Jets-Bills uniforms wreak havoc among colorblind viewers of ‘Thursday Night Football’
The New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills line up before a play during their “Thursday Night Football” game at MetLife Stadium on Thursday.
It looked like Christmas had come early on “Thursday Night Football” with the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets wearing solid red and solid green uniforms at MetLife Stadium.
Normally, the “Thursday Night Football” game is hard to watch because teams have shorter weeks to prepare for their opponents after recovering from a game played just four days earlier, and the matchups can often leave much to be desired.
This week, there was a new problem: To many colorblind viewers, it looked like everyone was wearing the same uniform.
Is No. 25 Buffalo running back LeSean McCoy or New York safety Calvin Pryor?
“As many as 8 percent of men and 0.5 percent of women with Northern European ancestry have the common form of red-green color blindness,” according to the National Eye Institute.
NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told the Buffalo News the league tested the uniforms, but overlooked their impact on colorblind viewers at home.
“”We will enhance our testing to include color blindness analysis to better address this issue in the future,” McCarthy said.
If it was hard watching the game, imagine being a player affected by colorblindness like former kicker Lawrence Tynes.
Tynes spent nine years in the NFL, playing for the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants.
The monochrome uniforms worn by the Jets and Bills are a part of Nike’s “Color Rush” campaign and will be seen on the field three more times this season.
The Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars will get to join the color rush next Thursday night.
Man, Ben Roethlisberger looks young. Wait, that’s actually Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles on the right. The colors can throw you off even if you’re not colorblind.
The last two “Color Rush” games will feature the Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 26 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St. Louis Rams on Dec. 17.
Follow Matt Wilhalme on Twitter @mattwilhalme
MORE FROM SPORTS
Justin Leonard shoots a 65 to share lead at PGA Tour’s OHL Classic
Five-star forward T.J. Leaf commits to UCLA, capping a strong class
Angels acquire Andrelton Simmons from Braves for Erick Aybar, prospects
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
