When a quarterback has a 10-2 record against you with 30 touchdowns and only four interceptions in a period of time in which he's also claimed two MVP awards, three Super Bowl rings, and general supremacy over all known life in the universe, you probably shouldn't make him want to take you down personally.
Then again, it's not as if the Raiders are known for their street smarts.
Perhaps it's good for business to ruffle feathers. Maybe the Raiders sell a bit more merchandise when they can wake their fans up with some offseason ribbing of a rival. Certainly the drama plays better on social media more than the team's asleep-at-the-wheel performance of the last few decades. But we're still sure it was a dumb move to wake up Patrick Mahomes.
In case you've missed the narrative, the Las Vegas Raiders have tried their best to make things personal with Mahomes ever since Antonio Pierce was installed as the team's leader. Last year, Pierce was named interim head coach after yet another head coaching change in Las Vegas with the firing of Josh McDaniels.
Last year, the Raiders, to their credit, stepped up in a big way on Christmas Day with perhaps the most physical performance from a Chiefs regular-season opponent in years and walked away with a surprise victory. In the process, things got chippy between Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby and Mahomes on the field and as a potential figiht could have broken out, Mahomes was heard yelling, "I'm here!" to Crosby again and again.
On Thursday, a video from Raiders practice surfaced of a Kermit the Frog plush animal was turned into Mahomes saying the same thing as players laughed in the background. The clip was deleted in time, but not before it was widely circulated and on Friday, Mahomes was asked about the clip.
Mahomes on the Raiders' Kermit video: "Stuff like that happens. It will get handled when it gets handled."
— Adam Teicher (@adamteicher) July 26, 2024
Yeah, that's Mahomes coolly responding to the inanity of the Raiders with a simple nod and acknowledgment coupled with a sort of promise that "it will get handled." It's the way Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction would deal with something like this. Suffice it to say, the Raiders should not feel so comfortable.
Then again, this is what Pierce asked for. He even went so far as to create his own version of Jordan Rules—the Mahomes Rules—when discussing the way he wants his team to be overly aggressive and physical with Mahomes for all 60 minutes on the field. In the same way, the Detroit Pistons were known for roughing up Michael Jordan and the rest of the Chicago Bulls, he's got the Raiders doing the same with the Chiefs.
Considering Mahomes has a 109.6 quarterback rating lifetime against the Raiders and a newly stocked pile of weapons at his disposal, we're assuming he's more than up for the challenge. If you smell something burning out of Vegas in the near future, it's because Mahomes sounds ready to set something on fire.