Even in black and white, that pocket really sticks outGeorge Gojkovich/Getty Images
Phil Simms also opted for the pocket in this game at the Meadowlands in 1987, but like Bradshaw’s from a decade earlier, it looks like it was stapled to the front rather than built in.
This pocket looks effective, but quite garishJohn Biever/Getty Images
Allen has been wearing the sleeker, optimized pocket jersey for about three years now, according to Jeff Mazurek, the Bills’ director of equipment operations. “I order like six to eight per color, and the manufacturer will ship it,” says Mazurek, who notes that while some teams will have their local seamstress add the hand chamber, he doesn’t have to make any alterations at all once the jerseys arrive. “It’s basically just a fleece insert that they put in there, a fleece pouch with a zipper. We can put a couple heat packs in there,” he explains.
For decades, the most common solution for quarterbacks facing the elements was a bulky fanny pack worn around the waist to warm their hands. Randall Cunningham used one for a playoff game in 1988. Steelers quarterback Neil O’Donnell wore one in the 1995 AFC Championship game, as did Donovan McNabb in the 2003 NFC Championship. In 2014, during Super Bowl XLVIII at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium—the only outdoor Super Bowl ever played in a cold-weather city—Russell Wilson and Peyton Manning both rocked the fanny pack. That method is still utilized today—Matthew Stafford and Jalen Hurts both braved the Philadelphia snow on Sunday with them—but in Allen’s case, it was proving far too cumbersome for his playing style.
“He’s so mobile, and in his first couple of years he’d get tackled by the hand warmer,” Mazurek remembers. He noticed Tom Brady was using the sewn-in pocket while playing for Tampa Bay. This prompted him to chat with the Bucs’ equipment guy before contacting the Bills’ uniform manufacturer, Ripon Athletic, about making some for Allen. (Nike is in charge of the NFL jerseys, with three to four different manufacturers around the country.) “I had ‘em made and I was like, ‘Dude, what do you think?’ He was like, ‘Yeah.’ That’s how Josh is. He’s the type of dude where you just give him his stuff and he goes out and plays.” According to Mazurek, tight end Dawson Knox is the only other player on the Bills who likes to go marsupial mode.
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