NFL Week 4 Uniforms: Black Helmets for Saints & Commanders, Throwbacks for Giants, 49ers + More

Week Four of the 2022 NFL season is here, and with it comes a few noteworthy uniforms and uniform additions that’ll be worn across the league over the weekend.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS BLACK HELMETS

Starting early Sunday morning across the pond, the New Orleans Saints will be wearing alternate black helmets for the first time as they “host” the Minnesota Vikings in London, England.

The Saints previously wore black helmets during their six-game pre-season slate in 1969, but a little red-tape snafu (with the NFL? never!) caused the league to scrap the planned helmet change before the regular season got underway. Those six exhibition games were the only time in the 55-year history of the Saints in which the club did not wear a gold helmet, so this game in England is something significant, I’d say!

The design of the original 1969 black helmets was effectively the inverse of the Saints’ gold lids, with a gold fleur-de-lis logo outlined in white on the sides and a white-gold-white stripe down the center. It also featured a gray facemask.

SHOP: New Orleans Saints NEW black alternate helmets available now

The new 2022 alternate helmet design shares some of those same features, including New Orleans’ primary logo on both sides. The most notable difference, though, is the fleur-de-lis pattern down the center – which mimics the feather pattern on the Seattle Seahawks’ current helmet unveiled in 2012 – and the black facemask.

The helmet is complete with “Saints” on the front bumper, “New Orleans” on the back bumper and oversized uniform numbers above that. Meanwhile, those numbers are smaller and contained within the black stripe on the Saints’ gold helmet.

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS ALL-BLACK UNIFORMS

The newest identity in the NFL, the Washington Commanders, will debut their alternate black uniforms on the road Sunday afternoon in Dallas. The Commanders, who were also the first team ever to unveil an alternate helmet, will wear black helmets, jerseys, and pants as they match up against the Cowboys in their traditional silver helmet, white pants, and silver-green pants home combo.

Washington’s black alternate jersey is entirely different than the others in their uniform set; both the collar and sleeve caps have a sublimated camouflage pattern, while the latter displays the D.C. flag on the right sleeve and the secondary logo on the left sleeve (both modified to match the Commanders’ colour scheme). It does feature the same stencilled number font as the home and road tops, in gold with a burgundy outline.

SHOP: Washington Commanders black alternate jerseys, t-shirts and more

The Commanders’ black alternate helmet includes a black facemask, the “W” logo on the front crown and numbers on both sides in the same font as the jerseys.

Washington will wear this all-black uniform twice more in 2022, for their Week 9 game against Minnesota and again during Week 12 against Atlanta. Both games will be played at the Commanders’ home stadium in Maryland.

NEW YORK GIANTS SUPER BOWL THROWBACK UNIFORMS

The New York Giants will celebrate their Super Bowl championships of the 1980s and ’90s with a throwback bonanza this weekend.

The dark navy blue helmet is back. The GIANTS logo is back. The red and white striping on the royal blue jersey is back. There are a few new additions, such as the immortal words of the late Giants owner Wellington Mara, “Once a Giant, Always a Giant,” embroidered into the back collar of the jersey.

SHOP: New York Giants throwback Super Bowl blue jerseys available now!

And yes, New York had thrown back to this era, between one to two times a season since 2016, including last week against Dallas… but not quite like this. Firstly, in all those games, the Giants wore the white road jersey from this set, not the blue, and – by far most importantly – the helmets were the modern, lighter shade of Giants blue. Worth noting the Giants lost the first six of those throwback games before finally winning once, Week 12 last season to Philadelphia, and then promptly losing again in the Monday nighter last week. Some quick math tells me they’re 1-7 when wearing the retro GIANTS logo since 2016.

The throwback feel won’t be limited to the uniforms as the Giants will also bring back the end zone design from Super Bowl XXI and retro-themed wall wraps around the field; fans will also get pennants featuring old designs when entering the stadium on those dates to help with the theme.

New York will bring back the old helmets, jerseys, and end zones one more time this season for their December 4th tilt against Washington.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS THROWBACK UNIFORMS

The San Francisco 49ers aren’t debuting a new look this week, but it will be the first time in 2022 that we’ll see their classic 1955/1994 red throwback uniforms.

The scarlet uniform includes three white stripes on each sleeve, black drop shadows and trim on the white player numbers, white pants, and throwback logos on the helmet (note, the 75th anniversary patch shown in the photo above will not be worn in 2022 as the picture was taken last season).

SHOP: San Francisco 49ers throwback scarlet red jerseys available now!

San Francisco wore this set four times last season, winning two and losing two. In 1994, when they were introduced as part of the NFL’s 75th anniversary celebrations, the 49ers went an incredible 11-0 when wearing this uniform, including victories in the NFC Championship game against Dallas and Super Bowl XXIX over San Diego.

CINCINNATI BENGALS ALL-WHITES

This game already happened for the Thursday nighter, but it is a significant uniform event for Week 4 and, thus, deserves mention.

The Bengals wore their all-white uniforms at home earlier this week against Miami, including the debut of the team’s popular white helmets. Cincinnati took things further by painting white over all the orange spots on their field (including team logos). Commitment to a bit, yes, I do love it.

SHOP: Cincinnati Bengals white alternate jerseys and more available now!

It all worked out well for the defending AFC Champs, as the Bengals beat the Dolphins 27-15.

INTERNATIONAL FLAGS ON HELMETS

Finally, this week and next, NFL players will have the option of wearing international flag decals on the back of their helmets. Flags are only permitted to be worn by players born in, have parents or grandparents born in, or have lived at least two years in the country shown. The optional additional flag will be worn alongside the U.S. flag on the back of the helmet; no, it will not replace the U.S. flag decal.

Approximately two-hundred players will wear the extra flag on their helmets over the allotted two weeks—more on this entire program, including a complete list of the flags you could see here.