Howie Long was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 1981 and played for the Raiders for his entire NFL career, earning a Super Bowl ring and enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Long has now been retired for longer than he played, but he still considers himself a proud part of the Raiders. That doesn't mean he enjoys seeing them play anymore, though.
"I played there for 13 years," Long said today on The Dan Patrick Show. "That's my team. It's been difficult to watch over the last number of years. You keep thinking they're going to start to pull out of it, they've had some moments, but those moments inevitably go back to the same old thing, which is disappointing."
That same old thing has been a record somewhere between 2-14 and 5-11 for six consecutive seasons. And no matter what Chris Johnson thinks, the Raiders will likely make it a seventh consecutive season in that range this year. So it's not surprising that Long finds the Raiders difficult to watch.
Long also weighed in on what kind of team might be a good fit for Larry Johnson, said he thinks Brett Favre needs to get plenty of rest over the second half of the season, and discussed his trip to Afghanistan with the Fox pregame show. More on his appearance is at DanPatrick.com.
Howie Long: Raiders are difficult to watch
Posted by Michael David Smith on November 12, 2009 11:47 AM ET
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26 Comments 
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Oakland Raiders, Top Stories
Latest stories in: Latest News and Rumors, NFL Mobile Exclusives - Rumors, Oakland Raiders, Top Stories
Ask Howie how is son likes his new team...
wow! this is a news flash. any one that has watched about 10 seconds of a raiders game knows that they are difficult to watch.
yes somehow us die-hard raiders fans can't seem to look away. kind of like a bad car wreck.
I like the continuous plugs to DPshow. It's amazing.
Dan Patrick >> Colin Cowherd
In other headlines:
Bear Excretes In Woods
Pope Announces Catholic Faith
The title of this post is the biggest DUH moment of the week.
What a great country we live in that we can come here for our daily dose of Raider bashing. Thanks PFT...
Howie's just telling the truth, no problem here.
For you young Raider fans out there, this guy was as good as it gets, on and off the field, just awesome.
Howie.
Your car commercials are difficult to watch too!!
Not to mention your son in St louie!!
Touche' Oakland
Howie long 1
Oakland 1
Looks like overtime!!!
Yeah well Howie your '88-'92 Jay Schroeder lead Raiders teams were pretty difficult to watch too at times.
Especially on the defensive side when you let the Hawks, Bengals and Oilers hang 40+ on you...and let's not forget the 51 points the Bills hung on you in the '90 playoffs.
Other than the Bo Jackson-Marcus Allen lead rushing attack, there wasn't a whole lot to see on those teams either...so get off your high horse.
This story has all the excitement of a crewcut, a Chevy/Radio Shack commerical, or the NFL on Fox.
If the guy who made "Firestorm" says YOU are hard to watch, you better recognize.
howie long is an ass
Jamarcus Russell alone makes the Raiders hard to watch. Throw in the pathetic, attention starved creatures that inhabit their half-filled stadium and you have an astonishingly bad mix of futility and inferiority.
Long live Al Davis!
Give up the flat top Howie its over let it go.
Just think since Howie has had his flat top Alex Trebek shaved his mustache, Jeff Fisher cut his Mullet, 70's style porn bush is looked at as ungodly, and the women Chris Collinsworth dated are now in college
http://deadspin.com/5357994/cris-collinsworth-likes-his-ladies-very-young-and-extremely-stupid
Funny how some of you Raiders fans want to bash Howie for telling the truth.
If even half the team had the heart and desire Howie displayed during his career the Raiders would at least be relevant in the NFL.
But hey, if bashing a legend of our proud franchise makes you feel better about the absolute garbage Al Davis has been trotting out on the field lately, then do what you gotta do.
I love watching the Raiders. It makes me feel like a footballl genius. Before each offensive play, I can call out exactly what they are going to do. And im right about 80% of the time.
Its simple, they only have 3 plays:
- Run
- Pass to RB
- Pass to TE
And its usually easy to guess which one it will be based on how they line up.
It's like playing the kindergarten version of trivial persuit.
As a Browns fan, I might take exception to this headline. I think it might be more painful to watch the Browns.
Hey, we've got be the best at something. We're the best at being painful!
Fun fact: Both the Raiders and the Browns, in 8 games, have managed to score in double digits only 3 times each.
"Howie long 1
Oakland 1
Looks like overtime!!!"
Plenty of time for the Raiders to blow it. Yet again.
K-Rock says:
"But hey, if bashing a legend (= Howie Long) of our proud franchise makes you feel better about the absolute garbage Al Davis (= Legend) has been trotting out on the field lately, then do what you gotta do."
Pot meet kettle...
You know what else is hard to watch? Chevy commercials with Howie Long.
Cmon my Brother Raidernation Brotherens!
As much as we are filled with criticsism all year and since 2003 - vets like Howie are only venting they are as die hard as we are and hopefully wind of this gets to Al Davis & Co. At this stage Raidernation is the only voice that can voice their displeasure since we are alredy filling the stadium at haf-full capacity? all media blogs about our beloved Raiders are about Raidernation that has the forum now to make a change - Tim Brown and now Howie and i hope more voice their displeasure as their voice can get to the ears of Mr. Davis & Co. as our only hope of change.
If Howie thinks its bad now I hope he gets a chance to watch the Raiders V Browns on 12/27! That game has a potential to have two coachless teams that couldn't score to save their lives!!!
It's frustrating for all of us believe me. We just gotta keep supporting our raiders. Just like our kids, as bad as they are, we still love them. It's getting harder and harder waiting for them to turn this ship around though.
I am a Diehard Raider fan and have been for over 30 years. With that said, I find it amusing that some of you actually BASH Howie Long for saying that the Raiders are difficult to watch! Get real!
Prior to 2002 (and not counting '61 & '62) the Raiders only had 2 years where they lost more than 10 games! Also for those of you bashing the teams Howie played in....Plunkett’s mark as the Raiders starting quarterback in regular-season games from 1980-86 was 38-19-0 (.667). He was 8-2 in the postseason (.800) and guided the Raiders to two Super Bowl titles....so are we in agreement that those years were pretty awesome years to be a Raider Fan? ...In comparison, the infamous Jay Schroeder had a record of 32-25 with the Raiders..... Even the other often criticized QB Marc Wilson had a 31-19 record with the Raiders.
In comparison to the last 6 years, the Jim Plunkett (for sure!), Marc Wilson and Jay Schroeder years were a thing of beauty. At least they were competitive and a 7-9 season was a disappointment back then. Nowadays, a 7-9 season would be a cause for a parade in downtown Oakland.
Kind of puts things in perspective doesn't it?
You could'nt have proved your point any better AASUN. Even Todd Marinovich looked better than our current QB. Raider history shows that Howie Long was the best at his position, and he worked alongside greats as Greg Townsend and even Bob Golic. They had a teriffic OL and backfield, and that team would have died had they played the way this team has played over the last several years. Heads would have been rolling! Yet, you still get idiots who don't know a thing about football, bagging on champions like Howie Long. Who has 2 Super Bowl rings!!! Shows you how stupid some people are for bagging on good players. We are all so frustrated at this team now for what is now, going on 7 years! And we are so sick and tired of this (CURRENT) team looking like crap!!! But we respect and appreciate the good ol' champions! They only feel what the raider nation feels! When the team bleeds, so do we! And it hurts!