Long: ‘For a long time, I was just waiting to get into the playoffs’

HOUSTON — Chris Long in the Super Bowl.

It has a nice ring to it.

‘Every time I get in the playoffs, I’m in the Super Bowl’

For the first time in his NFL career, the defensive end is playing for the Lombardi Trophy. All it took was leaving the Rams to join the Patriots. And on Sunday, he and his teammates will face the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

“For a long time, I was just waiting to get into the playoffs, so I’m one-for-one on this,” Long joked with Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt on Late Hits. “Every time I get in the playoffs, I’m in the Super Bowl, it seems like. That’s a good stat to have.”

‘It’s not lip service when we say, Put the team first’

Long — whose father, Hall-of-Famer Howie Long, was a Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders and will be part of Fox Sports’ coverage of the game — quickly came to understand and respect what it means to follow the Patriot Way.

“It’s not lip service when we say, ‘Put the team first,'” he said. “Everybody is putting the team first. Your role is going to change week to week. You’re going to be asked to do a whole lot of different stuff that you might have never done before. You’re going to do a multitude of things and you just have to be ready to do those at the drop of a hat.

“And we have 53 guys in that locker room who are ready to do those things and put themselves to the side.”