Reaction to AFC North's New Nike NFL Jerseys

As expected, there were few changes to the uniforms of the AFC North at today's Nike unveiling. Aside from the jerseys being 50 percent stronger and 20 percent lighter, they look practically identical to how they did when Reebok produced them.

It's possible more dramatic changes will come in 2013, but for now, the new Nike look for the AFC North is quite similar to the old Reebok one. Most of the differences are limited to garment construction and fabric technology.

The biggest aesthetic change is to the Cincinnati Bengals' uniform, which has a new tiger stripe pattern on the helmet and down the sides of the pant legs. The collar design has also been modified.

The Baltimore Ravens' and Cleveland Browns' uniforms are unchanged for the most part, aside (of course) from the addition of the signature Nike "swoosh" on the shoulders and an alteration to the Ravens' helmets.

The Pittsburgh Steelers saw some changes to the design of the numbers as well as a more bold shoulder stripe.

The gloves are the most audacious part of the uniforms now, boasting the respective team's logos on the palms, which interlock—or, in the Browns' case, their signature orange helmet rather than a standard team logo, a move that had me worried the new helmets would feature a picture of a helmet on them.

All in all, there was far more hype for the official jersey release than for what actually was changed about each team's looks. The jerseys are available for pre-order on April 15 and will be in stores and online at the end of the month.

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