Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has revealed his team used ‘Michael Jordan rules’ to stymie the Chiefs’ star quarterback on Christmas Day.
While Mahomes and Co. eventually got hot to win their second straight Super Bowl, the Kansas City passer was held in check vs. Las Vegas in Week 16 as he was sacked four times and threw an interception.
And Pierce has now explained that he used the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons’ aggressive treatment of Jordan as inspiration ahead of the Raiders 20-14 win on December 25.
‘We’ve got the Jordan rules and what I’m calling from now on as long as I’m here, the Patrick Mahomes rules,’ Pierce said on ‘The Rush,’ the podcast of Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
‘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 whoop his a**. Any time he came to the hole?
Patrick Mahomes was held in check by the Raiders in Vegas’ Christmas win over the Chiefs
And Raiders coach Antonio Pierce explained how he used the ‘Bad Boy’ Pistons as inspiration
A young Michael Jordan was met with uber-physical defense by the Pistons in the late 80’s
‘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 a** whooped.’
The ‘Jordan Rules’ refer to the ultra-physical style that the Pistons employed against Jordan in the late 80’s, with Detroit able to muscle past Chicago and win the championship in 1989 and 1990.
‘We had to do everything from a physicality standpoint to stop him,’ Detroit star Isiah Thomas recalled in ‘The Last Dance.’
‘This the Jordan rule, every time he go to the f*****g basket, put him on the ground,’ Jordan’s teammate Dennis Rodman added.
Jordan was often double and triple-teamed by the Pistons as well as Detroit aimed to frustrate the young star.
Of course, he was eventually able to get over the hump and win his first championship in 1991, en route to a legendary career that saw him collect six rings in total.
Mahomes, meanwhile, already has three Super Bowl rings at the age of 28.
Pierce and the Raiders will certainly hope to make the life of their AFC West rival harder going forward.
