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Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce revealed his team used the “Michael Jordan Rule” to hinder the Chiefs’ star quarterback on Christmas Day.
While Mahomes and his teammates are ultimately keen on winning a second straight Super Bowl, the Kansas City passer was limited against Mahomes. In Week 16 in Las Vegas, he was sacked four times and threw an interception.
Pierce now explains that he used the “Bad Boy” Pistons’ aggressive treatment of Jordan as inspiration before the Raiders’ 20-14 win on Dec. 25.
“We have Jordan’s rules, and from now on, as long as I’m here, I’m going to call them Patrick Mahomes’ rules,” Pierce said on Raiders tight end Marquez Crosby’s podcast “The Rush” “Zhong said.
“So you remember when Jordan was with the Pistons, all those guys in the ’80s before he was Michael Jordan, Air Jordan, the Pistons were yelling shit at him. When have I been in this hole?
‘Elbow, feel him, like a tap. We touched him. We’re in mind, in spirit, in body, emotionally, spiritually, I’m touching you. So, I showed those guys Jordan cheers.
The “Jordan Rules” refers to the ultra-physical style the Pistons used against Jordan in the late 1980s as the Detroit Pistons defeated Chicago to win championships in 1989 and 1990.
“We had to do everything we could from a physical standpoint to stop him,” Detroit star Isiah Thomas recalled in “The Last Dance.”
“That was Jordan’s rule, every time he got to the damn basket, put him on the floor,” Jordan teammate Dennis Rodman added.
Jordan was frequently double- and triple-teamed by the Pistons, and Detroit’s goal was to frustrate the young star.
Of course, he eventually overcame the odds and won his first championship in 1991, launching a legendary career that would see him win a total of six championship rings.
Mahomes, 28, meanwhile, already has three Super Bowl rings.
Pierce and the Raiders will certainly be looking to make life more difficult for their AFC West rivals.