Falcons and Buccaneers set for a rare game in 2025 with a uniform matchup that almost never happens

When the NFL calendar hits Week 15, there’s going to be a Throwback Thursday showdown in Tampa Bay between the Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons, and that game is going to feature something that is rarely seen in the NFL: Both teams will be wearing a colored jersey.

In almost every NFL game, one team has to wear a white jersey, but that won’t be the case for this NFC South battle in December. The Buccaneers have announced that they’ll be wearing their iconic Creamsicle jerseys for the primetime game in what is expected to the only time during the 2025 season where the Bucs will be wearing their iconic uniforms. 

The Buccaneers are wearing the uniforms as part of their 50th anniversary celebration. 

With the Buccaneers wearing a colored jersey, the opposing team would normally wear white, but that won’t be the case in this game. The Falcons have announced that they’re ALSO going to wear a throwback uniform in Week 15. The throwback look will feature Atlanta’s red helmets combined with the team’s black jerseys. 

This matchup will mark the first time in three years that a game will happen without a team wearing white. The last time it happened came in Week 8 of the 2022 season when the Bears wore orange against the Cowboys, who were suited up in their navy blue jerseys. 

It’s rare that you’ll see a color vs. color game in the NFL. Although the league embraced the theme during the Color Rush years from 2015-2018 — a span where there were multiple color vs. color games — the Buccaneers-Falcons game will mark just the second time in seven years that we’ve seen a color vs. color game where neither team was wearing a Color Rush uniform. 

The fact that the Bucs are celebrating their 50th season is also kind of interesting. The game in Tampa Bay will be played on Dec. 11, which is notable, because that will mark the 48th anniversary of the first win in franchise history. The Bucs, who played their first season in 1976, started 0-26 before winning their first game in December 1977.