Saints hideous Nike collar omens Broncos look

(AP Photo)

Football season officially kicked off Sunday night when the New Orleans Saints defeated the Arizona Cardinals 17-10 in the Hall of Fame Game on NFL Network.  The game started the league’s 2012 preseason and debuted Nike’s new uniforms.

And New Orleans’ were awful.

Saints players looked like they had black Count Dracula fangs coming out of their shoulders courtesy of Nike’s contrasting-colored Flywire collar.  The design is one that will be implemented by Nike across most of the NFL starting this season.

Because of the bold difference in color (black and white), New Orleans’ collars looked particularly ugly and may be a foreshadowing of Denver’s away look this season.  We already know what the Broncos‘ home collars look like, but fans will get their first look at Denver’s white away jerseys on Thursday night when the team takes on the Bears in Chicago, kicking off preseason for both teams.

Denver’s home collar (half orange, half blue) is not attractive — but more appealing than New Orleans’ away look.  Regrettably, the Broncos’ away collar (half blue, half white) will look similar to the Saints’ color-contrasting white and black.

Denver’s away replica jersey does not appear as fang-ish as New Orleans’, but replica jerseys never look quite the same as the one’s worn by players on game day.  Have your eyes prepared for the worst on Thursday evening.

The collar colors obviously do not have to be contrasting, as the Cardinals’ are solid red.  Perhaps the Broncos should look into making their collar solid blue?

Ultimately, the design and color of a jersey collar will not affect the Broncos’ win-loss column this season.  But it may damage the eyes of thousands of fans.

Nike must not have thought of that.