The National Football League announced that 32 legends, one representing each team, will count down to the 2013 NFL Kickoff Game on NBC in primetime on Thursday, September 5. Raiders Legend and Pro Football Hall of Fame DE Howie Long will represent the Oakland Raiders.
This unprecedented pregame celebration leads into the 94th season opener between the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver (NBC, NBCSports.com, Westwood One Radio Sports, 8:30 PM ET).
Moments before Kickoff, the 32 greats will appear on air counting down from 32 to 1. The "King of countdowns," Ryan Seacrest also will make a live appearance from Mile High to help the fans get 'Back to Football' and start the new year.
The 32 NFL legends who participated in this pre-taped moment feature 21 Pro Football Hall of Famers, including one from the class of 2013: Arizona Cardinals, Kurt Warner (QB)
Atlanta Falcons, Deion Sanders (CB)
Baltimore Ravens, Ray Lewis (LB)
Buffalo Bills, Jim Kelly (QB)
Carolina Panthers, Kevin Greene (LB-DE)
Chicago Bears, Mike Ditka (TE)
Cincinnati Bengals, Anthony Munoz (T)
Cleveland Browns, Jim Brown (FB)
Dallas Cowboys, Michael Irvin (WR)
Denver Broncos, Shannon Sharpe (TE)
Detroit Lions, Barry Sanders (RB)
Green Bay Packers, James Lofton (WR)
Houston Texans, Jamie Sharper (LB)
Indianapolis Colts, Jeff Saturday (C)
Jacksonville Jaguars, Fred Taylor (RB)
Kansas City Chiefs, Willie Lanier (LB)
Miami Dolphins, Larry Little (G)
Minnesota Vikings, John Randle (DT)
New England Patriots, Willie McGinest (LB)
New Orleans Saints, Willie Roaf (T)
New York Giants, Phil Simms (QB)
New York Jets, Joe Namath (QB)
Oakland Raiders, Howie Long (DE)
Philadelphia Eagles, Troy Vincent (DB)
Pittsburgh Steelers, Franco Harris (RB)
San Francisco 49ers, Jerry Rice (WR)
San Diego Chargers, Dan Fouts (QB)
Seattle Seahawks, Cortez Kennedy (DT)
St. Louis Rams, Marshall Faulk (RB)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Warren Sapp (DT)
Tennessee Titans, Jevon Kearse (DE)
Washington Redskins, Lavar Arrington (LB)
This special pregame moment continues a Kickoff tradition where NFL greats representing all 32 teams help start the season. The countdown is part of a national celebration to kick off the 2013 season. Grammy-Award winning singer Keith Urban will perform live from Baltimore's Inner Harbor. In addition, Big Machine Records recording artist and winner of Season 4 of NBC's "The Voice" Danielle Bradbery will sing the National Anthem live from Denver following the introduction of the two teams. Simulcast coverage of the 60-minute pregame show from Baltimore and Denver from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. ET airs on NBC and NFL Network.
