In a new summer series, I’ll take a look at some Bucs topics for the upcoming season – and explore them with a twist.

Our first topic is – what if the Bucs wore orange pants this year for the throwback creamiscle game?

Inspired by Marvel’s “What If…?” comic books and the Marvel animated series, let’s take a look at some potentially different outcomes to some of the more intriguing storylines in Tampa Bay that nobody sees coming. To be clear, this is not a series of topics that Pewter Report believes will happen or necessarily hopes will happen. Just use your imagination and get ready for some surprises, Tampa Bay fans.

The Background

Former Bucs LBs Hardy Nickerson and Derrick Brooks – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise began in 1976 when the team debuted in the NFL with unique Florida orange, red and white uniforms. Those uniforms came complete with white helmets and a logo featuring a winking pirate with a dagger in his mouth named “Bucco Bruce.” The Bucco Bruce pirate was modeled after Australian actor Errol Flynn, who was famous for portraying swashbuckling pirates in films back in the 1930s and ’40s.

Tampa Bay’s uniforms featured orange jerseys, white jerseys and white pants until 1992 when head coach Sam Wyche arrived and ushered in a new look with orange pants. Due to the tropical climate in Tampa, the Bucs often wore white jerseys at home until late in the season when the team would wear orange jerseys after the heat and humidity decreased.

As a result, Tampa Bay would mostly wear white jerseys and white pants – even at home – or the white jerseys and orange pants. Tampa Bay would typically don their orange jerseys for just a few games each year, and under Wyche, the most worn uniform combination was white jerseys with the orange pants that he helped usher in.

What If The Bucs Wore Orange Pants For The Creamsicle Game?

Bucs DTs Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

When the Glazer family took over as owners of the team in 1995, they recognized that the orange and white look and the winking pirate logo had become synonymous with losing. Tampa Bay had only had three seasons with a winning record in the 21 years the franchise wore the creamsicle uniforms, and one of those seasons – 1982 – was a strike-shortened season. The Bucs finished 5-4 in 1982 and made the playoffs for just the third time in franchise history. Yet Tampa Bay had a 1-4 record in the postseason with the orange and white look.

In 1997 the Glazers rebranded the Bucs with new red and pewter uniforms, a new pewter helmet and a new logo – a red battle flag with a skull, crossed swords and an orange football that paid homage to the old look. Tampa Bay immediately won that season, finishing 10-6 and captured a home Wild Card playoff victory over Detroit.

The Bucs would win their first Super Bowl a few years later in 2002, but in a nod to nostalgia, the Glazers introduced a creamsicle throwback game in 2009 where the team donned orange jerseys and white pants and the Bucco Bruce helmet for the first time since 1996.

That became a hit with fans and the team continued its throwback tradition annually until the NFL established a new rule in 2013 that players can only wear one helmet during the season to reduce the possibility of concussions. The league rescinded that rule in 2022 and a decade later the Glazers brought back the creamsicle game once again last year.

Yet whenever the team has had a throwback game the team has always worn orange jerseys and white pants. That was the case from 2009-12, in addition to last year’s throwback game, which occurred in Week 6 against Detroit.

What if the team were to change things up and break out the old orange pants for the throwback game? Tampa Bay legends like Mike Alstott, John Lynch, Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp began their careers wearing the white jerseys and orange pants more often than the uniform combination of orange jerseys and white pants.

The Bucs have done a recent photo shoot with the team’s star players in orange jerseys and white pants once again. So it certainly seems like the creamsicle game will consist of that combination for at least one more year.

But what about future creamsicle games? Would you like to see the return of the orange pants, Pewter People? Leave a comment below with your opinion.

Other articles in Scott Reynolds’ What If? summer series:

What If Joe Tryon-Shoyinka Led The Bucs In Sacks?