Denver Broncos to go old-school blue twice this season

United in orange!

It’s the battle cry of the last few years for the Denver Broncos. Hey, fans wanted the change back to predominantly orange jerseys — asking for the team to do so by sending in a petition with thousands of signatures — and the team answered.

With the brilliant orange tops and white pants now being the Broncos home uniforms, with the all-whites still going strong since 1997, it means the blue tops are now Denver’s alternates.

This year, the team will don those alternate blue top, white pants jerseys — which the team wore from 1997-2011 — including during Super Bowl XXXII. It’s no coincidence when they’ll wear the blue tops for the first time this season, against that Super Bowl foe, the Green Bay Packers. Football fans across America still consider Super Bowl XXXII — John Elway versus Brett Favre — one of the greatest championship games in NFL history; this is a great way to honor that game.

Broncos will wear blue jerseys w/white pants vs. Green Bay on Nov. 1 & blue jerseys w/blue pants vs. OAK on Dec. 13. pic.twitter.com/IaZf3UMGYE

— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) August 20, 2015

Nov. 1 is also the game in which Broncos owner Pat Bowlen will be honored and added to the Ring of Fame. No word yet whether Bowlen will be in attendance or not.

And, why not play the Oakland Raiders — a longtime rival — in the old-school blues? The last time the Broncos wore their alternate blue jerseys was Week 7 last year against the San Francisco 49ers, a 42-17 victory.

Rewind to 2002 when the team created an orange alternate which took off with fans. They couldn’t get enough, eventually pushing the team to move back to those predominantly orange tops. Of course, the team didn’t have to change their jerseys, but they did in a show of good faith and support from one of the best fan bases in the entire NFL.

(Read here why Peyton Manning should sit this preseason.)