Antonio Pierce: Raiders must treat Patrick Mahomes like Michael Jordan
Raiders coach Antonio Pierce laid out a game plan to deal with Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. And it takes a page from the Detroit Pistons’ approach to slowing Michael Jordan when he played for the Chicago Bulls.
In an appearance on Maxx Crosby’s The Rush podcast, Pierce referenced the physical treatment the Bad Boy Pistons used on Jordan in the 1980s and early 1990s.
“We’ve got the Jordan rules, and we’ve got what I’m calling now, from now on as long as I’m here, the Patrick Mahomes rules,” Pierce told Crosby. “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 whip his ass. Any time he came to the hole, elbows, feeling him, love taps. We’re in his head, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, I’m touching you. So I showed my guys Jordan getting his ass whooped.”
For Pierce, getting to Mahomes theoretically puts the Raiders in a better position to deal with the Chiefs, who have owned the Raiders and the AFC West in the past decade.
The Chiefs have won eight straight division titles, two straight Super Bowls and three in the past five seasons.
“We’ve got to win the division first,” Pierce said. “We’ve got to knock off the team in red. They’ve dominated for years. We’ve got to knock off the head of the snake. Fifteen. We’ve got to do that first.”
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.
