In Week 15 of the NFL season, a unique Thursday night game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons will stand out, as both teams will wear colored jerseys—a rarity in NFL matchups where one team typically dons white. The Buccaneers will sport their iconic creamsicle jerseys, celebrating their 50th anniversary, a uniform style usually reserved for the 2025 season. Meanwhile, the Falcons will wear throwback outfits featuring red helmets and black jerseys, making this clash a nostalgic showdown of classic looks.
This game will be one of the few instances in recent years where neither team wears white—the last such occurrence was in Week 8 of 2023 when the Falcons played the Tennessee Titans, and previously when the Chicago Bears wore orange against the Dallas Cowboys in 2022. While the NFL experimented with color-on-color games during the 2015 to 2018 Color Rush era, this December matchup marks the third color-vs-color contest since 2021 without either team in Color Rush uniforms.
Adding historical significance, the game on December 11 also commemorates the Buccaneers’ 50th season, symbolically close to the anniversary of their first-ever franchise win in December 1977 after starting their early years 0-26.
Fan Take: This rare color vs. color game not only adds a vibrant visual twist to the NFL season but also honors the rich history of two established franchises. For fans, it’s a thrilling reminder of the league’s heritage and an exciting aesthetic break from the usual, potentially paving the way for more bold uniform choices in future NFL games.