I will say after a few days the Falcons uniforms have grown on me a bit. Still not my favorite, but better than my initial reaction. I think if they got rid of the side stripe on the jerseys, took the boldness out of the numbers, reduced the size of the ATL, and made the red jersey solid instead of gradient, it'd be an even more solid set. Not sure if anyone's seen it, but this set also includes red pants with a black stripe. If/when the NFL does away with the ridiculous "one helmet per player only" rule, the Falcons absolutely have to incorporate a red helmet.
Even with all that said, the throwback would still be the best uniform of that set, and I'm generally of the opinion that "throwbacks are better" is an overrated opinion.
Picture including the red pants
These just keep getting worse for me.
-- I hate the "yoga pants" look you get when the socks and pants match.
-- The gradient on the red jersey is frankly embarassing.
-- I hate the black logo on the black helmet... I wanted a red lid so badly.
-- The "ATL" is stupid and gimmicky on a main set.
-- The pants strip is either red or black, so it will sometimes mismatch, which is infuriating to me and I am sure they will do way too many times per season.
-- The uniform font is stupid and too big.
-- I like gray facemasks on a "classic" uniform (e.g., the Colts or 49ers) but not
too heartbroken if they are gone (e.g., the Packers coloring theirs in green or the Bears with navy blue even if they both could do gray, so could several others).
-- That being said, few things piss me off more than a team with a modern design yet a "fauxback" to the classic gray facemasks... it just clashes with everything else in the aesthetic and philosophy of your look... Cardinals and Falcons.
-- I hate that Vikings' black mask... why not just purple... but that is because they picked a "non-school color" rather than it being a philosophical mismatch.
-- All this is lined up against a very classy, attractive throwback.
-- They wasted red and black, which is a very nice color combination.
These suck. Hard pass.
This is what an arena league team trying to be classy by their standards looked like.