A Deep Dive on the New York Jets’ 1978-1997 Uniforms
Our latest in-depth look at the uniforms that inspired this season’s NFL throwbacks.
At the end of last week’s article about the Vikings’ original uniforms, I wrote, “I’m pretty sure that the Vikings are the final NFL team to be announcing a new throwback for 2023.” Shows what I know! No sooner had I written that than we had a video leak hinting at a Jets throwback, which was confirmed a few days later when the Jets unveiled their new retro uni set. And you know what that means — time for another deep dive on the uniforms that inspired the new throwback!
The Jets’ throwback is based on the uniform that the team wore from 1978 through 1989. But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to look at the period from 1978 through 1997, a 20-season span that I refer to as the team’s “Concorde era,” because that’s when they wore their green helmet with the Concorde-themed logo.
Just as I’ve done with our other recent deep dives (for the Bucs’ creamsicles, the Eagles’ Kelly greens, the Seahawks’ blue/silver set, the Vikings’ original purple set, and the Oilers’ uniforms), I’ve cobbled together a bunch of interesting and sometimes obscure fun facts about the Jets’ Concorde-era uniforms — a dozen of them, in fact! Ready to dive in? Here we go.
1. Mix and Match
Notice anything unusual about the photo shown above? The Jets players are wearing the Concorde-era helmets but the Joe Namath-era jerseys and pants! When did that happen?
Answer: During the 1978 preseason. The Jets wore that same uni combo — new green helmet, old white jersey and pants — for all four of their preseason games that year. The new jerseys and pants didn’t make their on-field debut until the first game of the regular season. (You can see more examples of the preseason combo — all in black-and-white, unfortunately — here.)