The excitement level around Denver Broncos headquarters and among the legions of Broncos fans is palpable at this time, obviously fueled by the acquisition of quarterback Peyton Manning.
(Actually, despite the Associated Press stylistic guide, it probably is never necessary to use the adjective “quarterback” when saying Peyton Manning. He just is).
The preseason schedule has been released and while the firm dates are yet to be announced we know that the Broncos will kick things off in Chicago, then play home games against Seattle and San Francisco before traveling to Arizona to close out preseason play.
And last Tuesday in New York City Nike and the National Football League unveiled the new uniforms for all 32 teams.
For the Broncos, the big uniform theme in 2012 is a return to one of the most illustrious elements of our past—the color orange.
The Broncos aesthetic design in the Nike 51 football uniform will stay true to years past while updating the color-backing in the neckline. That is in order to accommodate the Flywire technology designed to reduce weight and provide a lockdown fit over the pads.
The new uniform will be designed and engineered from the inside out, with Nike focusing on creating a system whereby the base layer, padding, jersey and pant work together.
Some of the new innovations include more sleeve articulation for better range of motion and integrating new four-way stretch fabrication to provide a streamlined shrink-wrap fit.
Over the decades of my career I have watched generations of offensive and defensive linemen try to have their jerseys altered to fit better, tighter, and tighter still.
Broncos defensive lineman Mitch Unrein, who played at Wyoming before the Broncos, got to try on a prototype of the new jersey material during last season, saying, “It fit like a glove. There is no extra material on them. It just fit perfectly on the pads.”
Unrein adds that the fit “Helps you out a lot of you are a defensive lineman because it has that nice cut around the arms, so those offensive linemen can’t hold on to you as much.”
But it is not just the linemen who will benefit. Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, who closed out his career with a preseason in Denver before his retirement, sometimes would tape his game jersey to his legs before putting the pants on, so that the jersey had no extra fabric hanging loose that a defender could grab for a potential tackle.
Football is a game of inches, even down to the uniform.
The Broncos this year will be wearing their new look Nike uniforms for all games, but fans should not notice much visual change at all in how it appears, except for orange.
The Broncos started off life wearing used mustard and brown uniforms in 1960 and 1961, then made the switch to orange when Jack Faulkner took over as general manager and head coach in 1962.
While there were several variations of jersey and pant striping over the years, and even some adjustments as to the shade of orange, Denver had orange as its primary color from 1962 through 1996.
Of course, virtually every Broncos season ticket holder and most fans of multiple decades are fondly familiar with the “Orange Crush” defense that led the Broncos to Super Bowl XII and which was one of the NFL’s top units in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Most fans do not realize that the very first Bronco orange was meant to be a color very near that of the University of Tennessee, but the American Football League manufacturer being used had a slightly different color version.
This is interesting in that our quarterback now is Manning, who played his college football at Tennessee. The trademark shout at Tennessee is “Go, Big Orange,” and some version of that will turn out to be very fitting for the Broncos in their new togs, which will feature orange as the primary home uniform. The former alternate jersey becomes the new primary jersey, as worn by future Hall of Fame cornerback Champ Bailey at the unveiling in New York, the road while will stay the same, and Denver’s alternate jersey, which may be worn for two regular season games, now is the navy blue.
So, 2012 will feature a new and improved uniform design by Nike, but a return to the color which has been the one most identified with the Broncos since 1962.
The Denver Broncos are looking to go back to the future in both color and winning ways.
“Go, Big Orange.”
Tags: Uniforms
Decker and DT have the potential under PM to be great WRs!
Decker reminds me so much of Eddie Mac,I love this kid!!!
call me champ or orange or BNO. i dont care which. or BO. i just wanted to get rid of brandon lloyd in my handle
I just re read my last post. I basically said the same thing twice just said it differently LOL
BFE Decker and DT are going to be two type of WRs that Manning has never had before IMO
Btw, I read somewhere that the reason DT is not participation in the PM throwing sessions is b/c he recently had the pin removed in his finger.. Anyone know if that is true?
yeah, deck will go in the tough spots to get the ball and lay his body out to get it………..just like eddie mac. How many times did eddie mac catch the ball in the middle of the field only to get smashed by the safety, but he always held onto the ball…………we’ve been missing that type of reciever for a long time.
PM will rewrite at least half the playbook on Offense!
BNO…..I like it,used to be a pub named B&O like 5 miles from here!
OT I believe that is true. But i am not 100% sure.
BO just sounds smelly………lmao
ab, is there an OTA schedule? ive never seen that.
kod…..I miss that type of WR,but he won’t get beat up as much as EM did,because of the defenseless WR rule!
kk, maybe not BO. nahhh don’t call me BO unless you are trying to insult me.
Yea I posted it on the blogs a couple days ago. Ill try to find it again and post it.
We won’t even be able to count how many audibles will take place next season……….I love how he can call the play at the line based on the D……..such a huge advantage as long as the rest of the O knows what to do.
*participating
LOL @ KK
BFE, Royal, thanks for the compiments, you know I appriciate yall. Alot of brotherly love floating around Broncos country last night and today. That goes for you to Alaska. Freak30, enjoy yourself in Pittsburgh bro. We gotta get a Broncos Bash Tailgate Party going this year for one game. So who’s in?! LOL
Never mind. The OTA schedule was from a year ago. Didnt notice that when i posted it on here lol.
BO BO is much worse,LNAO!
haha, very funny
Royal, enjoy your date with your baby.
Strand only chance for me is sometime in October when I gat my PFD otherwise its to dang much lol
NOT
kod,PM is the best audible QB ever,he’s a QB and coach at the same time,fortunate we got him,imo.I can’t wait to see him in action sporting the new Orange jersey…is it September yet?
How bout I call you B&O bro?
eddie mac was one helluva tough receiver………getting hit actually pumped him up even more……..he and rod smith were an awesome tandom and both CLUTCH!
Alaska, that a long flight for a Broncos tailgate bash and then the game LOL
no BFE, it is febuary 2013 and we just won the super bowl over Eli and the Giants
Oh man. I was reading an article about what DT said holy crap so much hate going on with the comments its not even funny.
Its from bleacher report didnt care for the article the comments are whats interesting IMO if you want here you go
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1143666-tim-tebow-former-teammate-demaryius-thomas-goes-over-the-line-with-comments
Strand LOL its the cost man. about a grand just to fly to Denver. Its crazy.
Hey, BFE, I don’t hate your Vols, lol, and I hope Sunseri does a great job for you guys. We didn’t have him long….about three years or so I think. But, we got Lance Thompson back from you guys, who we originally hired Sunseri to replace to begin with, so it’s all good. Funny kind of fruit basket turnover of sorts, I guess.
PM will make superstar WRs outta DT ,Decker,and Caldwell..and maybe another one in the draft?
He will use Tammi,Dressen,and Thomas/Green also.something we didn’t do enough of last year.
BFE, im not bleeding AND orange. im bleedinorange
Lots a mula!
We had TE’s last year? I didn’t notice………..lol
BFE dont forget those we still have on roster also. We did sign Jason Hill which gets overlooked. He may be able to do some good things. Along with the unknown WRs that didnt see playing time last year so we havnt had a chance to see what they could do. (Thats why the unknown)
B&O, I like that, cool idea young man.
yes, Fox is the 8th best coach in the league.
http://www.nfl.com/photoessays/09000d5d82849b56?module=HP11_cp#photo=8
tide,you gotta hate my Vols Damnit,it’s a rivalry,it’s supposed to be that way,lol.but since UT has been on a slide for a few years the rivalry has cooled down,but I got a feeling they will be back in the hunt this year with Bray and Hunter at 100%.
Strand that is lots of mula LOL.
Tamme Dreessen JT (Should have a breakout year) and Green (When off of suspension) should be huge also.
ok B&O works
If youre bleedin and it’s Orange,then B&O,but if you don’t like it,I’ll call you whatever you want,lol.
LMAO@kod…I think we had TEs last year?
BFE and Kod Lol a coupke of our wins came from TEs i think Im not sure. The way the media puts it its like Tebow threw the ball magically ended up downfield to catch it. So who knows LOL
AB,I forgot about Hill…and the unknown………….
I think we will have a great passing game this year,and that will set up the run,imo.
AB – seems to me that one of BT’s calves would get you to Denver…
The TEs catch to set up the FG I mean lol
strand you didn’t guess my song dude!
BFE I do agree that with a steady passing game our run game will do well. Even since with Orton we didnt really have a steady passing game.
OT from what they were saying last night i think it would lol
LOL@OT…….man the blog is sensitive today!
Demaryius did have a pin removed from his pinky this week, and that’s why he’s been in Georgia, and was on the radio there yesterday. Not sure when he will be able to catch again, but no doubt he’ll be in Denver next week.