Many of us thought that Joe Burrow would turn into a solid NFL QB after watching him direct a historic 2019 LSU offense, win the Heisman Trophy, & beat Alabama in the CFP National Championship Game. Let’s be honest though, did anybody expect him to be this good? After all, there are plenty of No. 1 overall picks that don’t live up to the hype for various reasons. This is not the case for Burrow, who has been as advertised since the Bengals drafted him No. 1. He's been special despite dealing with a mediocre offensive line & inconsistent running game. Now, it certainly helps that he has the best WR trio in the league; however, credit should be given where it’s due & Burrow is considered one of the league’s elite QBs for various reasons.
Pinpoint accuracy
Joe Burrow is one of five quarterbacks in NFL history to post single season marks of at least 4,000 yards (4,611), 30 passing touchdowns (34), and a 70 percent completion rate (70.4%). He completed 65.3% of his passes the season prior, ranking him right in the middle of NFL QBs. He’s doing all of this while getting the ball out quickly (2.65 seconds average time to throw) to avoid taking sacks & hits. His drastic increase in accuracy also resulted in increased yards per attempt (8.9) numbers which led the league last year. Young quarterbacks typically struggle with accuracy, decision-making, and avoiding pressure, but that’s not the case for this Bengals QB.
Tough as nails
I called out the Bengals offensive line earlier for being mediocre in terms of protecting their star QB. I’m hesitant to give such blatant criticism; however, I also believe that the criticism is warranted after the unit allowed 70 sacks in the regular season & playoffs last year. Burrow was sacked 19 times in 4 Bengals playoff games, including 7 times in Super Bowl LVI. He’s also been sacked a ridiculous 83 times in his 26-game regular season career as an NFL QB. These hits have left him prone to injury, including a throat contusion suffered in early 2020, a torn ACL & MCL suffered in late 2020, & an MCL sprain suffered during Super Bowl LVI. Despite all of these factors working against him, he still led his team to the Super Bowl in 2021. Toughness is an underrated factor in terms of evaluating QBs, and Burrow has that in spades.
Elite company
Writing this piece made me ask the question, “how many second-year quarterbacks have ever taken their teams to the Super Bowl?” The answer is now seven, and it’s an impressive list. We’re talking two Hall of Famers (Dan Marino, Kurt Warner), two future Hall of Famers (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger), Russell Wilson (potential HOF), Colin Kaepernick, & Joe Burrow. What makes this feat even more impressive though is that his team is the Bengals, who entering this season hadn’t won a playoff game since 1991 & hadn’t been to the Super Bowl since 1989. Let’s be honest, we might be witnessing history in the making so long as the Bengals upgrade their offensive line to ensure Burrow’s career doesn’t go to waste like Andrew Luck’s once did.