It’s throwback week for the New England Patriots

FOXBORO — We’re on to Week 5 in New England. And that means we’re on to a throwback week for the Patriots.

It’s a throwback to a time when the Patriots weren’t all that good, so it’s slightly fitting that the team sits at 1-3 with the famous red jerseys set  to reappear at Gillette Stadium this weekend when New England hosts the Detroit Lions. 

This weekend will be the first of two times this season that the Patriots will wear their famous “Pat Patriot” getup. Players will don those red jerseys and white pants — and the Pat Patriot helmets — for the first time in a decade on Sunday. (Week 13’s Thursday Night Football matchup with the Bills was also announced as a “Throwback Game” by the Patriots.)

The look disappeared because the NFL instituted a new helmet rule after the 2012 season. But that rule is gone, and teams are now free to have some fun with their throwback getups.

The red look was common for some of the darker says in Patriots history. The team sporadically wore the throwbacks between 1994-2012, and went 9-3 in those games. 

We’ll see if they can keep that winning going this weekend, when 23-year-old Bailey Zappe will likely get the start at quarterback in place of the injured Mac Jones and Brian Hoyer. Zappe was just a teenager the last time the Patriots wore their throwbacks.