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Nike brings the neck roll back to the NFL

That white collar on Vince Young's jersey, left, mimics the old-school look of Eric Dickerson and others. Getty Images

Everyone's been wondering what Nike's effect on NFL uniforms would be. And now that the preseason has started, we have our answer: Nike has brought back the old-school neck roll.

If you're not old enough to remember, the neck roll was a padded collar extension that some players -- most notably Steve Grogan, Eric Dickerson, and Willie Lanier -- used to wear around their necks. It eventually fell out of favor as players began opting to wear as little gear as possible.

But take a look at the Buffalo Bills from their Thursday night game against the Washington Redskins: The neck roll is back!

OK, not really. But it looks that way, because Nike has seen fit to give the Bills a two-tone collar. On the other side of the ball, the Redskins were wearing faux neck rolls too, only theirs were burgundy. The two teams were neck-and-neck, so to speak.

Not every NFL team has received the two-tone collar treatment. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles, for example, still have conventional collar coloring. But for about a dozen clubs out there, it'll be neck-roll-o-rama this season. Now let's see if Nike can come up with a way to simulate the hip pad.