It didn’t take the Las Vegas Raiders long to stir the pot in training camp. On July 25, a video was posted online of a Kermit the Frog puppet dressed to look like Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes that was brought to practice by a fan.
Raiders rookie Trey Taylor grabbed the puppet from the fan and played with it for a brief moment. The video quickly went viral online and drew the ire of many people in the Chiefs’ orbit. Even Mahomes himself seemed irked by the video and gave his brief thoughts on the situation.
“It’s still early in the year. Stuff like that happens. It’ll get handled when it gets handled,” Mahomes said in his July 26 press conference.
His last line is certainly ominous and his demeanor did not come off as somebody who was simply brushing it off. That said, it’s hard to see how Mahomes can play any better against the Raiders. He’s 10-2 against the team in his career and has thrown 30 touchdowns to four interceptions. If it takes a seventh-round pick playing with a puppet to motivate him, it’s unlikely he would already have three Super Bowl rings.
Antonio Pierce Says Situation Has Been Handled
The Raiders and Chiefs are no strangers to antagonizing each other. They’re historic rivals and both franchises harbor a lot of hate. Despite that, the last thing the Raiders want to do is give the Chiefs any bulletin board material.
Head coach Antonio Pierce was brief on the subject but made it clear that it’s taken care of.
“We nipped it in the bud,” Pierce said during his July 26 press conference. “It’s over with.”
The Raiders are the last team to beat the Chiefs before their Super Bowl run so there’s already plenty of motivation for Kansas City to get a win. It’s hard to see how this puppet video really moves the needle that much.
Las Vegas Raiders Not Happy With Power Rankings
Expectations aren’t high for the Raiders this season. Bleacher Report has the Raiders as the 25th-best team in the NFL while The Athletic has them at 26. Notably, there are six teams that finished with worse records than Las Vegas last season that are ranked higher.
This is something that the Raiders have taken note of and the players aren’t happy.
“I tried to not see it, but I am pissed off,” linebacker Robert Spillane said during his July 25 media availability.
“I’m angry,” he continued. “At a lot of the rankings that go on. And, of course, that adds fuel to the fire. … You see it, you don’t really want to see it, you don’t really care, but at the end of the day, you want respect so … what I say now gets none of that done. We’re going to go out there and make it happen.”
Cornerback Jack Jones is also fired up about the perceived disrespect.
“I feel like they were disrespecting me, the team, him,” Jones said. “I don’t like that. That set a fire under me.”
Time will tell if the Raiders are better than what the power rankings are indicating but the players seem to believe that’s the case.
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