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Howie Long
Howard Michael Long
 Second round draft pick, 1981. . . Moved into starting role in fifth game of second season. . . Recorded career best 13 sacks in 1983 including five in one game. . .Career sack total of 84 does not include 7.5 recorded as a rookie before sack was official NFL stat. . . All-Pro 1983, 1984, 1985. . .Named All-AFC four times, 1983-1986. . . Selected to eight Pro Bowls. . . Born January 6, 1960, in Somerville, Massachusetts Howie Long was a second-round pick of the Oakland Raiders in the 1981 NFL Draft and the 48th player selected overall. A four-year letterman at Villanova, Long was the MVP in the 1980 Blue-Gray Game. An all-around athlete, he was a basketball and track star in high school as well as the Northern Collegiate boxing champion. Long joined the Raiders one year after the team won Super Bowl XV. Three years later, in 1983, the 6-5, 268-pound defensive end helped the team capture another Super Bowl title with a 38-9 win over the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. His five-tackle performance in that game capped off a season that saw him record a career-high 13 sacks, including five in one game against the Redskins. The following season he recorded 58 tackles, 12 sacks, and nine passes defensed and was named the NFL Defensive Lineman of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association. Long moved into a starting role with the Raiders beginning in the fifth game of the strike-shortened 1982 season. Long was a fearsome force on the Raiders defensive line. Long's signature defensive move was the "rip," which employed a quick, uppercut-like motion designed to break an opposing blocker's grip. He wore jersey number 75, which was retired by the Raiders. (The Oakland Raiders do not retire players' numbers. Currently number 75 is being worn by 1st year player Brad Lekkerkerker a 6-7, 330lb Offensive Lineman out of UC Davis) Long utilized his quickness and strength to earn eight Pro Bowl selections. Long collected 84 sacks during his career (7.5 are not official as sacks were not an official statistic during his rookie year). He went on to be selected to eight Pro Bowls, the first following the 1983 season. Fast, strong, and explosive off the ball, he was just the second Raider defensive lineman to make a Pro Bowl. A first- or second-team All-Pro choice in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1989, he was also named All-AFC four times. In 1985, the hard-playing defensive end accounted for 10 quarterback sacks, with at least one in eight games. As a result, he was selected as Raider Lineman’s Club Defensive Lineman of the Year by his teammates. Although he missed much of the 1988 season due to injury, he still managed to record three sacks and intercept the first pass of his career, which he returned 73 yards in a game against the Houston Oilers. During his 13-year career, Long, a member of the NFL’s All-Decade team of the 1980s, recorded 84 career sacks, not including 7.5 sacks in 1981 before the sack was an official NFL statistic. After his retirement from the NFL following the 1993 season, Long pursued an acting career, focused mainly on action films, including "Firestorm", a 1998 film in which he starred. He also appears in the movie "Broken Arrow" alongside John Travolta. He played a minor role in the movie 3000 Miles to Graceland, alongside Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell, and Courteney Cox. Long also made numerous cameo appearances on TV shows and commercials. He was a spokesman for Radio Shack, making commercials with actress Teri Hatcher. Some people mistakenly believe that Long and Hatcher are married given the sparring and closeness that are embodied in the commercials. He is best known today as an analyst for the FOX Network's NFL coverage, where he often plays the "straight man" to the comic antics of co-host Terry Bradshaw, whom Long sacked several times as a player. He hosts an annual award show on FOX, "Howie Long's Tough Guys," in which he honors the NFL players whom he deems the toughest, and gives the toughest of them a Chevrolet truck. He is known for the military-style crew cut hairstyle he has worn throughout much of his career. Long has been married since June 27, 1982 to the former Diane Addonizio and they have three sons, one of whom, Christopher, plays football at the University of Virginia. Long will not travel on the same airplane as his wife for fear of orphaning their children | |
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