The Tennessee Titans will wear their Houston Oilers throwback uniforms for the first time this season during today’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, which kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.
Founded as the Oilers in 1960, the franchise spent 37 seasons in Houston before moving to Tennessee, where the nickname remained for the 1997-98 seasons before becoming the Titans in 1999.
Tennessee previously wore Oilers throwback uniforms in 2009 as part of the AFL’s 50th anniversary celebration, though they were based on their original design, which included a Columbia blue helmet.
This time, however, the Titans are honoring the “Luv Ya Blue” era with white helmets featuring light blue and red oil derricks, light blue jerseys with white numbers and red trim and white pants with stripes that match the helmet.
This look spanned from 1975-97, as the Oilers only wore all-white uniforms in 1998. They also wore a patch to mark their first two seasons in Tennessee, though that’s absent from the throwback design.
The throwback uniforms, which will be worn again during the Dec. 17 matchup with the Houston Texans, are complete with “Luv Ya Blue” inside the back collar and light blue socks that include the aforementioned striping pattern.
In addition to the uniforms, the Titans have painted the turf at Nissan Stadium with a throwback design that displays the Oilers’ 1980-98 primary logo at midfield and their corresponding wordmark in the end zone.
Meanwhile, the Falcons will counter with their standard black helmets, black jerseys and white pants, giving us our first color-vs-color matchup of the 2023 season.
It’s Tennessee’s first color-vs-color game since a 40-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017, which pitted light blue and black, and Atlanta’s first since a 23-22 loss to the Detroit Lions in 2020, which matched red-to-black gradients against gray.
Elsewhere around the league today, the Seattle Seahawks are set to wear their 1990s-era throwback uniforms against the Cleveland Browns and the Miami Dolphins will wear the road version of their 1966 throwback uniforms against the New England Patriots.