While last week’s games featured a “return to normalcy,” as it were, for our uniform matchups, this week’s games feature lots of alternate looks. Not only are the Browns (1946 fauxback) and Jaguars (Prowlers) wearing throwbacks, several teams will be going with alternate looks as well. The Packers are running back their all-white uniforms for a Sunday Night matchup, and their opponents, the Seahawks, will counter by wearing their “Action” (neon) green alternates. The Lions will be wearing their blue helmet/black jersey alternates as well. We could have as many as five teams wearing head-to-toe mono-white, leading to a good number of both good looking AND bad looking games. In fact, this week might have more potential “And One” candidates than any other so far this year.

Who’ll challenge them for the Top 5 and who’ll need to go back to the uni-drawing board? Let’s look at the contenders below.

This post will be updated as teams who have not announced full combos do so.

Sunday Early Games:

Ravens vs. Giants

The Ravens will debut a new combination for 2024 when they visit the Giants on Sunday. The black/white/purple/black combo was worn last year. The Giants will be in their regular home uniforms. I like the Ravens in white jerseys and purple pants, although the black socks are fairly close in shade to the socks, so there could be a bit of a yoga pants look, but the black hose should be dark enough to differentiate.

Bengals vs. Titans

The Bengals will pair their orange helmets with white jerseys and pants, along with black socks for this meeting. The Titans will counter with a navy/navy/powder/navy combination that actually isn’t too bad (discounting the design — the colors are good). This matchup won’t sniff the dreaded “And One,” and might even contend for a T-5 spot.

Cowboys vs. Panthers

The Carolina Panthers will be wearing white jerseys at home, thereby forcing the Dallas Cowboys to wear their “bad luck” blue jersey/silver-gray pants combo. The Cowboys actually haven’t worn this combo all season long, although they have worn their blue jerseys over white pants earlier in the season. And as is typical, the Panthers haven’t revealed what pants/socks they’ll wear with the silver buckets and white shirts. Being the Panthers have already worn multiple different pants/socks with the white jerseys, I won’t even guess what they’ll wear on Sunday. Not that the team’s Twitter header means anything, but it shows a player sporting a white pants/black socks combo.

UPDATE: The Panthers will be wearing white pants and black socks (as was actually what their header image has).

Chiefs vs. Browns

The Browns will be wearing their 1946 fauxback uniforms at home against Kansas City, which means the Chiefs will be sporting their beautiful “home” uniforms. Although the Browns are technically in Icy Whites, because it’s a fauxback, it’s not WFWS. I don’t love the fauxbacks, but it’s still a pretty good looking uniform, so this game should look very good. Definitely a T-5 contender here.

Dolphins vs. Texans

The Dolphins have not yet revealed what pants and hosiery they’ll wear, but they will be in white helmets and jerseys. The Texans will counter with a mono-navy combination — which has been worn before, but never in Houston. They broke that out in Green Bay, when the Packers wore their all white alternates, so if Miami chooses white pants and socks, this matchup will look similar. No matter what the Dolphins wear, this will be in contention for the And One.

UPDATE: The Dolphins will wear aqua pants and socks.

Jets vs. Jaguars

The Jaguars will be wearing their “Prowler” throwbacks for the second, and final, time this season. The Jets will counter with a very sartorially pleasing green/white/green/white combo. Yes, the Jags should make these permanent.

Commanders vs. Saints

Although the Saints are still yet to unveil their lower half, with the Commanders going burgundy/white/burgundy/burgundy, this has an And One written all over it. And I’m about 99% sure when all is said and done, the Saints will go with their usual gold/black/black/black home uniform. Aside from their throwback, they have worn gold over mono-black for every other home game this season. Yech. Even gold pants (hah!) wouldn’t put this in the Top 5, but it would avoid an And One.

Sunday Late Afternoon

Bills vs. Lions

The Saints/Commanders may be in the running for the And One, but the Buffalo/Detroit tilt may be the runaway winner. The Lions have yet to unveil their pants/socks, but I’m very confident they will go mono-black below the neck. Interestingly, if that is the case, when the Lions first wore their alternates, they did so against the Seahawks, who went mono-white below the neck, so the game would look similar with Buffalo in mono-white. And the only other time the Bills wore mono-white this season? Against the Texans, who wore their “H-Town” alternates, which are so dark they might as well be black. I do not have high hopes this will be a good looking game by any stretch of the imagination,

Colts vs. Broncos

While neither team has yet unveiled their pants and socks, I’m supremely confident the Colts will be wearing their normal white pants (as they’ve done with the white jerseys all season). They’ve mostly gone with white hose but the blue socks remain an option. The Broncos, meanwhile, never reveal their lower half stylings until game day (or less than 24 hours before the game), so that’s still up in the air. They can pair their orange, white or even blue pants with the orange tops, and have done so this season. Depending on how both teams complete their outfits, a T-5 is not out of the question.

Patriots vs. Cardinals

In a rare move, the Cardinals will be wearing their mono-whites at home, and the Patriots will counter with navy jerseys and silver-gray pants. How often does either of these two teams enter a weekend looking at a T-5 instead of an And One? Not very often, but this is absolutely the best possible matchup between these two teams. I love that the Patriots have finally come to their senses and are wearing the silver-gray pants much more often this season. In fact, this will be the sixth time the Pats have worn gray britches this year, both with white and blue tops.

Steelers vs. Eagles

The Battle of Pennsylvania between the Steelers and Eagles will feature Pittsburgh in their regular road uniforms. The Eagles have not yet unveiled any uniform (much less pants and socks) for the Sunday game. However, in their season opener, the Eagles wore their black helmets, and they’ve already worn their throwbacks once. They’re scheduled to wear them a second time in Week 17 — which if my math is correct, would mean their three alternates will be used up on those games, meaning they’ll be in midnight green helmets and jerseys (and likely white pants) this Sunday. And that’s what I expect. But I’ll wait for sure until they declare their uniform.

UPDATE: As expected, the Eagles are wearing green jerseys and white pants.

Buccaneers vs. Chargers

The Bucs will be wearing their “Super Bowl” specials, for their trek to Inglewood, while the Chargers, as is their wont, haven’t yet declared whether they’ll pair their powder blue tops with white or gold pants. Either way, it should be a good looking game, but the Bolts in gold pants would make this a strong T-5 contender.

UPDATE: The Chargers will wear white pants and light blue socks.

Sunday Night Football

Packers vs. Seahawks

Just when you thought maybe the Commanders/Saints or the Bills/Lions were locks for the And One, along comes this absolutely brutal matchup. Not only are the Green Bay Packers running back their “Winter Warning” mono-whites for this game, the Seahawks are countering by going full neon green. I will need to see this one on the field, but I can’t imagine this pairing can possibly look good. It’s definitely another strong contender for the And One.

And there you have it — the matchups, as currently known, for Sunday’s games. Obviously I’ll update this once the teams who have not declared their sartorial choices have done so.

We will have two games Monday Night: In the Bears vs. Vikings tilt, the Vikings will be debuting their own mono-white “Winter Warrior” uniforms. I’ll have more to say about this on Monday. And in the second game, between the Falcons and Raiders, the Falcons will be in all-white below the neck while the Raiders will be in their classic silver and black home uniforms.

Keep checking back for updates!