Patriots fans will soon face sad reality Celtics fans have dealt with for years

Another week, another jersey article from me. Sorry to beat the dead horse here in late-August, but there’s simply not much going on. Anyway, the NFL released eight new “Rivalries” jerseys on Thursday, and it’s clear that they’re about to slaughter that league’s tradition in the same way they have the NBA.

Boston Celtics fans who also support the New England Patriots might be getting deja vu with the NFL’s launch of its version of the “City Edition” alternates.

The Patriots are one of the eight teams that received (were forced to get) these new unis, and theirs are -- okay. They’re by no means terrible, but they’re certainly different. The icy blue, black, and silver combo has some New Englanders excited, and others upset.

For the casual sports fans who enjoy the once-a-week schedule of the NFL, get ready. You have no idea what Nike is about to do to your team’s closet. Even if you don’t hate these, it’s going to get worse.

The one-year model that the “Just Do It” people like to run with quickly burns through designs until they eventually end up trotting out something like this season’s “Action Green” Celtics uniforms.

Nike is coming for the NFL in the same way they came for the NBA

Think about it, when the NBA debuted City jerseys in the 2017-18 season, they weren’t all that bad. Boston’s was a grey (never a great uni color in the NBA, by the way) parquet-themed uniform. Not the best, not the worst -- much like the new Pats alternate.

A year later, the Cs got what was probably their best City jersey to date. The white base, green font, gold trim combo was elite. It was so good that they released an inverted “away” type jersey mid-season. Both were absolute winners.

Since then, it’s been mostly terrible.

It’s always been a money grab. Yearly releases put pressure on fans to keep up with the Joneses and buy the latest design. Along with each uniform comes all of the hats, sweatshirts, long-sleeved shirts, etc.

The same thing will happen with the Patriots and the NFL. Maybe there will be a few winners, but they’ll be few and far between. Plus, the messaging from Nike is clear. They don’t really care what people want to see. Otherwise, the old Pat Patriot red unis would’ve been brought back, or at least used as inspiration for these “Nor’Easter” alternates.

It’s similar to how the Holy Grail of Celtics jerseys, the St. Patrick’s Day alternates, have stayed in the archives since 2017, the year before Nike became the league’s equipment provider.

There’s a whole lot of evil going on in the Pacific Northwest, and I can’t stand by any longer.