Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow is the hottest thing going outside of Josh Allen in these NFL Playoffs. When TSL initially wrote stories comparing Burrow to Tom Brady, the majority of the football world thought we were crazy.
After averaging 390 yards passing over the last four games and lifting Cincinnati Bengals to the franchise’s first AFC title game since 1988, the Brady comparisons are streaming out of the mouths of some of sport television’s elite shock jocks.
Some are even implying that Joe Cool of the Bayou Bengals is better than Patrick “Mr. Ketchup On Everything” Mahomes. Sunday’s AFC Championship Game will pit the two quarterbacks against each other, so we’ll find out what is what very soon.
In the meantime, these prisoners of the moment have to get chin checked back into reality and Shannon Sharpe was up for the task on Thursday’s episode of “Undisputed.”
“Joe Burrow is better than I ever thought he would be and poised beyond his years. But he’s not in Patrick Mahomes’ class. Mahomes is off to the best start to his career than anybody in this game. First four years. He’s one win away from a third super Bowl in four years. He’s an MVP, Super Bowl MVP. He’s 50-13 in his career, 8-2 in the playoffs. All by the age of 26. You do realize Joe Burrow is only a year younger than Patrick Mahomes?”
“He has four conference championship games, the same number as Troy Aikman and Steve Young. That’s more than Breed and Marino Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes have the same number of regular season losses. 13. The difference is Mahomes has 50 wins Burrow has 12.”
Shannon also discounted the hyperbole about Mahomes being a turnover machine by pointing out that Burrow had more picks than the $500M man.
“He’s there. But he ain’t Mahomeboy. Mahomeboy is on a [level] by himself. The throws he can make, the arm angles and platforms he can throw the ball from.
Then Shannon proceeded to remind co-host Skip Bayless (who looked skeptical and has joined the wave of fans hopping on the Burrow bandwagon) just how clutch Mahomes is.
“The Chiefs are 3-1 in the playoffs with Patrick Mahomes when the in-game win probability dips below 5 percent since 2018. The rest of the NFL is 1-38. Burrow, Herbert … there’s a lot of guys, but that No. 15 with that red, he’s on a level by himself.”
Ship tried to do what a lot of the Mahomes haters do and go back to that 3-4 start early in the season when a supposed “decline” in his game was noticed. However, five TDs in under 10 minutes and the fantastic 13-second score against the Bills when the football world was reading K.C.’s obituary, says he’s at the top of his game.
Sportscasters are quick to anoint the next great player and in the case of Joe Burrow it may not be a reach. However, you can’t skip over a quarterback who has had the greatest start to a career in history just to boost Burrow. The greatness of Patrick Mahomes tends to be taken for granted because its expected. Shannon had to remind folks of that.
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