Can you really stoke the fire of one of the NFL’s most heated rivalries two days into training camp? You apparently can if you’re the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs have remained hated AFC West foes despite the Silver and Black’s longtime struggles and the Chiefs’ recent dynastic dominance. The teams don’t hide their disdain for each other, even calling plays designed to embarrass the other squad on the way to the end zone.
More fuel was added to the rivalry’s fire on Thursday at Las Vegas’ camp in Costa Mesa, California.
According to The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, a Raiders fan brought a Kermit the Frog doll in a Patrick Mahomes jersey to Day 2 of Vegas’ practices to further the ongoing joke that K.C.’s star quarterback sounds like the Sesame Street character. Rookie safety Trey Taylor was asked to hold the doll, and he had some fun with it, even doing his own Kermit/Mahomes impression.
The moment was captured on video, which was then posted on X. Not surprisingly, Chiefs fans didn’t find it so funny. Mahomes’ personal trainer, Bobby Stroupe, left a daunting comment on the post: “We will remember.”
This Raiders Kermit Mahomes doll is going to age abysmally pic.twitter.com/Z4p5GNCgZL
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) July 25, 2024
Mahomes has poked fun at himself about the Kermit voice comparison in the past. During Super Bowl Week last February, he was asked to do his best Kermit impression.
The Chiefs will have to find new ways to motivate themselves if they’re to achieve the first-ever Super Bowl three-peat. They already have ample bulletin board material for Week 8 of the regular season. That’s when they’ll face the Raiders for the first time in 2024.
K.C. will likely be the road favorite, with heavy odds that Mahomes will have not the last laugh, but the next jab among the division adversaries.