Years after hating them, Bucs embrace the Creamsicle uniforms

On Sunday, the Buccaneers will break out their Creamsicle throwback uniforms for a Week 8 game against the Falcons. The celebrated look from yesteryear was something that the players grew to hate in their day.

Appearing on Thursday’s PFT Live, Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy said that, once he became the coach of the Buccaneers in 1996, he asked players why the team kept losing. Linebacker Hardy Nickerson blamed it in part of the uniforms.

The next year, the team dumped orange and yellow for pewter and red. And they started 5-0. And the rest is history.

Now, there’s nostalgia for the old look. This obscures the fact that the Bucs never did much in those uniforms. Beyond an unexpected trip to the NFC Championship in 1979, the first 20 years of the franchise’s existence — and their Creamsicle look — are associated with crappy football.