Even while the Kansas City Chiefs won their third Super Bowl title in five seasons, Antonio Pierce’s Las Vegas Raiders were one of the teams to show Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes was a little more mortal than usual.
And according to Pierce, it’s because he introduced the “Mahomes rules” to his team. If you’re familiar with the old-school NBA and how the Detroit Pistons used to beat a young Michael Jordan (one of Mahomes’ analogs), you know what he means by the phrase: Beat up the Chiefs’ superstar face-of-the-league quarterback by any means necessary.
Pierce explained his thought process to Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby in the latest episode of his “The Rush” podcast:
“We’ve got the [Michael] Jordan rules and what I’m calling, from now on, as long as I’m here, the Patrick Mahomes rules,” Pierce said. “So, you remember when Jordan was going through it with the Pistons, all those guys in the ’80s; before he became Michael Jordan, Air Jordan, the Pistons used to whup his ass. Any time he came to the hole? Elbows, feeling him, love taps. We touched him. We’re in the head, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually; I’m touching you. So, I showed those guys Jordan getting his ass whupped.”
The Pistons famously rode their Jordan rules to three straight playoff wins over Jordan’s still-ascending Chicago Bulls in the late 1980s. The Raiders under Pierce can count on one shellacking of Mahomes’ Chiefs on Christmas Day 2023, where they finished with four sacks and 10 quarterback hits.
Whether Pierce’s insistence and focus on pummeling Mahomes translates to more consistent success against the NFL’s red and gold standard is something we won’t have an answer for until next fall.
