The Las Vegas Raiders had a little fun at the expense of Kansas City Chiefs signal-caller Patrick Mahomes after practice on Thursday when a fan brought a Kermit the Frog hand puppet that was passed around by the players.
But this wasn’t any normal Kermit the Frog puppet, as it was sporting a Chiefs jersey and hair that mirrored Mahomes’. The connection comes from the fact that Mahomes’ voice is viewed as similar to the Muppets character’s by many.
Safe to say, the situation was not well-received by Chiefs fans, and even Mahomes’ trainer, Bobby Stroupe, said “We will remember” in response to the video.
As you’d expect, word got back to head coach Antonio Pierce, who addressed the situation on Friday as the Raiders took part in their third practice of training camp.
The Raiders have a Patrick Mahomes Kermit the Frog puppet at training camp?
The man is 10-2 against the Raiders, Chiefs have won 8 straight AFC West titles and they just guaranteed themselves an ass whopping they won’t forget. @PatrickMahomes
🎥 @RaidersAQ pic.twitter.com/rzBJnVlUTF
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) July 25, 2024
“We nipped it in the bud,” Pierce said, per Tashan Reed of The Athletic. “It’s over with.”
It isn’t immediately clear how Pierce addressed it with his team or what was said, but we can assume the goal was to avoid giving the best quarterback in the NFL and a division rival more motivation to beat his team.
Mahomes was asked about the situation on Friday and he kept his answer short and sweet.
“It’s still early in the year, stuff like that happens,” Mahomes said. “It’ll get handled when it gets handled.”
Mahomes added that he doesn’t need more motivation to beat the Raiders or any other team, but he’s not likely to forget about this by the team Las Vegas and Kansas City meet in Week 8.
