Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end and longtime FOX studio analyst Howie Long joins multimedia journalist Maddy Glab and Buffalo Bills owner and team president Kim Pegula on the latest episode of "Bills Pod Squad," presented by New York Lottery.
The episode is available now on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. You can also watch on BuffaloBills.com, the team's YouTube channel, and the Bills Mobile app, presented by M&T Bank.
Each week, Kim and Maddy discuss the Bills' previous matchup, look ahead to the upcoming week, and interview personalities from around the NFL.
Here are three takeaways from their conversation with Long.
1. Looking back on the 1990 AFC Championship
Long was on the other end of one of the most decisive victories in Bills history, a 51-3 throttling of the Los Angeles Raiders that propelled the Bills to their first Super Bowl. For Long, the loss hurt in more ways than one.
"I shattered my right hand (the week prior) and ended up doing what a lot of people did at that time, shooting it up and re-injuring it and shattering it a little bit more," he says. "I ended up going right from Buffalo on the entire flight with my hand in the air trying to kill the pain of both a loss of that magnitude and going right into surgery the next day."
Long also discusses what it was like to play against the great Bills teams of the 1990s, including his admiration for Bruce Smith and why he believes the Bills offense was ahead of its time.
2. Long for Elway?
Long details his storied career both with the Raiders and FOX Sports, including a tidbit about a deal that nearly sent him to Chicago.
"A number of teams tried to trade for me," he said. "As a matter of fact, I was rumored to be involved in a three-team trade when John Elway came out and refused to play for the Colts. I was gonna go to Chicago as part of the trade.
"When (Raiders owner) Al (Davis) kind of found out that was the part that could make the deal happen and John Elway would go to the Raiders – now, I would have traded myself for John Elway if I were the GM – Al refused to trade me. Once you're part of that organization, much like the Buffalo Bills – could you picture Jim Kelly in another uniform? … I'm a Raider for life."
3. Parenting professional athletes
Kim shares her three favorites memories of parenting her daughter, Jessie, who is the 63rd-ranked player in the Women's Tennis Association, setting the stage for Long to discuss the football journeys of his sons, former NFL players Chris and Kyle Long.
"I can tell you, having won a Super Bowl and covered 10 Super Bowls with FOX and all the things that personally I've been fortunate enough to be able to accomplish, the things that your children do far eclipse that in terms of personal meaning to me," he says. "I'm so proud of them."
