We all knew the Falcons' uniforms were due for an update. It’s not that the uniforms they’ve worn since 2003 were bad, but they weren’t anything that most fans felt like needed to be held on to.
The update finally came this week. I’ll admit, the announcement early this year that the Falcons would be rolling out new uniforms made me both excited and nervous. New uniforms can either be really good or really bad with very little wiggle room in between.
Atlanta decided to go with an Oregonian approach to their uniforms by rolling out three different jerseys and three different pants with the option to mix and match them game-to-game as they see fit. To me, this ended with a mixed bag.
It seems like the primary home uniform will be the all-black look. Black helmet, black jersey and black pants. I really like the look and it’s refreshing to see the Falcons back in the black uniforms as a primary look for the first time since the very early 2000's. There’s also a combo with black jerseys and white pants that I’m an even bigger fan of.
The main road uniform seems to be white jerseys with white pants. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it. It looks fine, if not a little too much like the NFL’s color rush gimmick that I’m not the biggest fan of. Overall, it's nothing you’ll hear me complaining about.
What you will hear me complaining about is the red jersey. Or should I say the red AND black jersey, because it’s a gradient jersey. Red up top fading to black at the bottom of the jersey. I loathe it. Something about the new uniform design just doesn’t look nearly as good in red as it does in black, but then they had to add the gradient to the mix. It comes off to me like a youth league uniform. Hopefully, this only makes one or two appearances a year, because the black uniforms put these to shame.
Also of note is that the Falcons are retaining their 1990’s throwbacks that have been fan favorites since they first debuted two years ago. I expect these to make at least one appearance a year, and while it’s a vaguely similar look to the new black uniforms, I’m still happy to have it back.
Overall, I give the new uniforms a “B” grade. Fortunately, it looks like the uniforms that will be worn most often are some of the better-looking combinations and the worse-looking combos will be relatively rare.
Of course, none of it matters if the team can’t improve on its 7-9 record from last year, but what else do you want me to talk about when there’s a global pandemic and no sports?!
