FOX sports analyst: Joe Burrow can edge out Tom Brady in NFL history

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow seems to have done the impossible in his short, two-year NFL career, coming back from a season-ending knee injury as a rookie and willing the Bengals — who were one of the NFL’s worst teams just a few years ago — into the Super Bowl. And after his recent performances, he’s received some lofty praise.

Burrow pulled off a miracle last Sunday, marching into Arrowhead Stadium and defeating the heavily-favored Kansas City Chiefs on the road. Perhaps more impressively, though, is that the Bengals had to overcome a 21-7 deficit in order to pull it off; Cincinnati ultimately managed to send the game into overtime, and thanks to a stop from the defense, Burrow was in position for a game-winning drive.

15 plays and 74 yards later, the Bengals were firmly in field-goal range, and Evan McPherson’s field goal sent the franchise to its first Super Bowl since 1989. FOX Sports analyst Marcellus Wiley was one of many to sing high praise for Joe Burrow, but he took it a step further, comparing the LSU product to Tom Brady.

“You can definitely give the comparison, draw the comp. I’m going to say it, because I played against Tom Brady in his early years, his first two seasons: Joe Burrow is better than Tom Brady was at that same stage. Be real. Look, they may, at the same stage, in the first two years, both have the same amount of rings or ring — at the same time, Tom Brady had that one year to sit, watch and then got his opportunity,” Wiley said. “Joe Burrow hit the ground running, even though (he was) injured in that same year.

“That said, the numbers support Joe Burrow is better than Tom Brady, and I hate when people push back because they compare the full version, the end-of-the-movie Tom Brady to the opening credits of what Joe Burrow is doing in his career. Calm down.”

Burrow completed 70.4 percent of his passes in the regular season, putting up 4,611 passing yards, throwing 34 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions. Moreover, he heated up when the stakes were at their highest: in the final two weeks of the regular season, in wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs, Burrow completed a cumulative 67-of-85 passes for 971 passing yards, eight passing touchdowns and no interceptions.

He’s continued his hot streak in the playoffs, too. Though Burrow hasn’t been perfect, he’s thrown for four touchdowns and 842 passing yards, helping the Bengals reach the NFL’s biggest stage.

“I’m comparing year two, starting two years for Joe Burrow to Tom Brady. There’s — passer rating 100 (Burrow’s) to 86 (Brady’s), even in the playoffs, where Tom Brady won a Super Bowl, Joe Burrow trying to win a Super Bowl,” Wiley said. “Joe Burrow in the slight regression from the regular season still has a higher passer rating. Still has more touchdowns to interceptions. Everywhere you look. Not only a good comparison, but it looks like Burrow can edge (Brady) out.”

Tom Brady praises toughness of Joe Burrow, draws comparisons to NFL greats

Legendary and now retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady joined the Let’s Go! podcast on Monday, where he heaped some serious praise to Cincinnati Bengals second-year quarterback Joe Burrow. One of Brady’s favorite parts of Burrow’s game is his toughness.

As a rookie last season, Burrow played in 10 games before suffering a torn ACL that ended his season. He battled back in time for this season, and has elevated his play to an entirely new level.

“I love it,” Brady said of Burrow’s toughness. “I love it because the quarterback, there’s very few ways to display toughness. We don’t play at the line of scrimmage, we don’t have to block, we don’t tackle, we don’t hit anybody. But the way we can show our toughness is to stand in the pocket and make throws. Sometimes you get the s*** knocked out of you and you’ve got to just get up and move on to the next play. You don’t want to every show anyone, ‘Man, he really got me good on that.’

“So I think what I love about Joe’s game is he does just that. He gets knocked down, he gets back up and he’s ready for the next play. I think the team gains a lot of confidence from that because the team needs to know that the quarterback’s going to be there week in and week out. Yeah, you have some tough injuries, ACL injuries that you just can’t. That’s the reality of that injury. But there’s a lot of things that you can overcome.”