Indianapolis Colts Unveil Throwback Jerseys for November 28th Home Game Against Tampa Bay

The most wonderful time of the year is nearly upon us once again. Nope, I'm not talking about Christmas (although it is wonderful in its own right). I'm talking about football season. This year, several teams will be honoring their past by decking out their players in throwback jerseys for one game only. One of those teams is the Indianapolis Colts who unveiled their throwback look on social media Wednesday morning.

Using defensive tackle Deforest Buckner as a model (for lack of a better term), the team unveiled a jersey that was originally worn by the 1956 team. At that time, the team was located in Baltimore, Maryland (they infamously relocated to Indy in the middle of the night in 1984 with no advanced warning) which featured a rookie quarterback by the name of Johnny Unitas, as well as tight end Raymond Berry, and defensive end Gino Marchetti, all of which would eventually be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

At first glance, the jerseys don't appear to be much different than what the team has worn for decades. However, there are a few subtle differences. The classic blue horseshoe logo normally found on each side of the helmet is now moved to the back with a smaller version on each side of the blue stripe that runs through the middle of the helmet.

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Another minor tweak can be found on the sleeves. For years, the sleeves have featured the player's number just below the shoulder line with two horizontal lines underneath. For the throwbacks, the numbers have been moved to the top of the shoulders and a third horizontal line has been added to the sleeve.

Fun fact: The numbers on the sleeves (or in this case the top of the shoulder) are referred to as "TV Numbers," and are there so team spotters and broadcasters in the booth usually high above the field can accurately credit players for plays they make during a game.

I consider myself to be a pretty big Colts fan. I keep up with team news year-round, I watch each game every week, I have team merchandise, etc., etc. With that said, I think their regular uniforms and these throwbacks are pretty, well, blah.

Of course, you can only do so much when you only have two colors to play with. They're not the Miami Dolphins or the Baltimore Ravens who use a three-color or more scheme, giving them a few more options. Plus, in all their years as a franchise, they've never made any drastic changes to their look. They've never completely revamped their uniforms like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who ditched their longtime "creamsicle" uniform in 1996 in favor of the one they wear today (although there's a chance the creamsicle look could return occasionally in a couple of years), or the New England Patriots who ditched their red, white, and blue scheme to a degree in 1992 and replaced the patriot-preparing-to-hike-the-ball logo with the red, white, and dark blue scheme and a sleeker side profile of the patriots face.

Bland or not, as long as they're winning and have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs, the blue and white scheme will work just fine.

Check out a couple of more photos released by the team, and the hype video they released ahead of the reveal below.

[Source: Indianapolis Colts on Facebook]