The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had planned to wear awesome creamsicle jerseys for their Week 4 home game against the Arizona Cardinals. However, they won’t, because the NFL is using this moment to take a stance on concussions.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers can’t wear cool throwback uniforms because ... concussions?
No Creamsicle helmets for the Buccaneers, because the NFL has a new policy against multiple helmets.
J. Meric
The league-wide guideline, which requires players to use the same helmet for all games during the season, was recently implemented based on the strong recommendation by the NFL’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee as well as the Player Safety Advisory Panel.
Of course, the Bucs could wear their orange duds with their regular helmets, but that would look stupid. They could also just slap on a new decal, like the Bears and Bills did Week 2, but their pewter regular helmets wouldn’t work with the bright orange decal intended for the white helmet. So, no throwbacks.
If there’s a legitimate medical reason why players shouldn’t be allowed to wear two different helmets over the course of the year, I am very much all for this rule. I will rewrite this post and apologize profusely and champion the NFL’s smart move in this department. Every precaution should be taken to prevent players from suffering potentially life-altering injuries, and cool uniforms are not cooler than not suffering from horrific depression for decades.
And the NFL should get on the phone as soon as possible with the NCAA, where teams bust out new helmets at the drop of a hat (helmet?), with schools like Kansas and Indiana donning as many as five over the course of a season and many teams wearing special alternates for just a game.
However, we’re talking about a league that’s stiff-armed news organizations into backing out of doing research into concussions and stiff-armed former players out of cash for their football-related brain injuries.
Perhaps I’m salty because I just think those helmets are really, really cool-looking. But it seems strange that whenever presented with actual opportunities to change dialogue surrounding concussions or help those affected, the league shies away, but when they have an opportunity to make a superficial move that forces teams from wearing cool clothing, they seize on it.
In a perhaps even stupider move, MLB would not allow the Nationals to wear Navy hats to honor victims of the senseless Navy Yard shooting down the street from their ballpark.
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