Raiders Legend Wishes He Could Suit Back up For Current Raiders Team

Las Vegas Raiders legend Howie Long wishes he could play for Coach Antonio Pierce and the new-look Raiders.

Aug 6, 2022; Canton, OH, USA; Howie Long arrives on the red carpet during the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Enshrinement at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce is building a culture that even has the franchise's alumni excited for this new era of Raiders football.

For many years, there hasn't been a lot to get overjoyed about with the Raiders, as the team has only made the postseason twice since 2002-03 and has had several head coaches since.

But something feels different about what AP is installing.

Raiders Hall-of-Fame defensive end Howie Long discussed this when he recently joined his son on his podcast, "Green Light with Chris Long."

"I told Antonio the week -- I came up there for the Super Bowl -- I hugged him, I said, 'I'm so freakin' excited, I'm jumping out of my skin,'" Howie said. "I wish I was 28 and could go back and press the go-back button and be a part of this because it's a renaissance of, in my mind -- and there's a couple of reasons why. One is, I think they made a mistake a few years ago when they had the special teams coach take over as head coach, and I think he captured the heart of the locker room and had created kind of a culture, and when that guy gets up in front of the room on Monday, people either, believe it or not -- you know that; I mean, any room you've been in -- that guy has to be authentic.

"And Antonio is a guy that grew up right around the Coliseum and knew the Raiders, was a fan of the Raiders growing up, he understood the history. And I said this to Maxx [Crosby] the other day when I spoke to Maxx, I said, 'History's great, and it's great to appreciate that and respect that and honor that, but it's time to make for this team and this group to make their own history,' and I said to Maxx, I said, 'The thing that's so impressive about what he's done there is, when I got in that building, Al Davis, Rob Wolf, Tom Flores, all Hall of Fame, Jim Plunkett, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Freddy Biletnikoff was around all the time, Jim Otto was around all the time, Cliff Branch, Ted Hendricks, Lester Hayes, Mike Haynes, it goes on and on and on. They had won a Super Bowl two years earlier than that, so the culture and identity of who the team was, was already established.

"This team has been kind of a wandering ship. Both from a location standpoint going from Oakland to L.A., then back to Oakland, and then to Vegas, and I think now, with the facility in Vegas and the stadium in Vegas -- that I think is awesome; both facilities are amazing -- it was difficult for Maxx to go in there in a place that had lost its identity and lost its culture and create that. And I think that's an impressive thing for both Antonio."

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