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Bucs announce creamsicle uniforms finally coming back ... in 2023

Supply-chain issues will delay a throwback home game for one more year.
Bucs receiver Michael Clayton (80) grabs a pass from quarterback Josh Freeman during a 2009 home game against the Packers. Tampa Bay hasn't worn its creamsicle "throwback" jerseys since 2012.
Bucs receiver Michael Clayton (80) grabs a pass from quarterback Josh Freeman during a 2009 home game against the Packers. Tampa Bay hasn't worn its creamsicle "throwback" jerseys since 2012. [ WALLACE, DANIEL | Tampa Bay Times ]
Published Feb. 28, 2022

The creamsicle Bucs throwback uniforms are returning, just not soon enough for the consummate throwback quarterback to brandish one.

The team announced Monday it will wear its old-school attire, complete with the “Bucco Bruce” helmet logo, at an undetermined game in 2023. It will mark the first on-field appearance of creamsicle in more than a decade; the NFL stopped holding throwback games in 2013 after instituting a rule limiting teams to one set of helmets for an entire season.

But the league issued a memo last summer allowing each team to add one alternate helmet to its uniform closet starting in 2022, essentially clearing the way for teams to wear throwback uniforms next year.

The Bucs will have to wait an additional year.

“Due to global supply-chain challenges, we will have to wait one more year than hoped,” the team said in a news release on its website. “This is the earliest that Nike can finish production of the orange uniforms.”

The prevalent hope among the fan base was that throwback games — and Tom Brady — would return in 2022. Brady will be 46, and presumably out of football for more than a year, when the 2023 season kicks off.

Related: Bucs designated to play first-ever NFL regular-season game in Germany

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