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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is heading to the AFC Championship as the Bengals defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in overtime. The team was down by a score of 21-3, but went on to erase the 18-point deficit in some style, securing a narrow victory.
The 25-year-old went 23 of 38 for 250 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the win. The Cincinnati quarterback has been compared to many quarterbacks in the NFL.
But there is one that is hard to ignore: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady. The two quarterbacks share many similarities, including a trip to the Super Bowl in their second season. Both are also the only two quarterbacks to defeat Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs.
Back in the 2001 season, Brady led the New England Patriots to the franchise’s third-ever Super Bowl versus the St. Louis Rams. The Patriots won the Super Bowl and Brady was the game’s MVP as he was 16 of 27 for 145 yards with a touchdown.
Like Brady, Burrow is leading his team to their third Super Bowl overall and is looking to win the first-ever Super Bowl for the Bengals. In their previous two appearances in a Super Bowl (1981 and 1988 seasons), they both ended in losses to the San Francisco 49ers.
Comparing Joe Burrow to Tom Brady
Looking at Tom Brady, the veteran field general was drafted in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft by the Patriots out of the University of Michigan.
Six quarterbacks were drafted ahead of him in that draft: Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger, and Spergon Wynn.
Five of the six quarterbacks combined for 40,385 passing yards in the NFL as Carmazzi never threw a pass in the league. The 15-time Pro Bowl quarterback is the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards with 84,520 yards. That's more than double the passing yards the quarterbacks drafted ahead of him in 2000 had.
Joe Burrow was a highly touted quarterback out of Athens High School in Ohio. The four-star signal-caller went to Ohio State from 2015-2017, playing in 15 games. He had just 287 yards passing with two touchdown passes.
Looking for an opportunity to be a starter, Burrow transferred to LSU in 2018. He had 2,894 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.
In 2019, he had one of the best collegiate seasons any quarterback has had, leading the nation with 5,671 yards passing and 60 touchdown passes. His passing yards are the fourth-most all-time in NCAA history while the 60 touchdowns are the second-most.
He went on to win the Heisman Trophy and the National Championship that season and became the number one overall pick in the 2020 Draft.
For the Bengals franchise quarterback, the question is now clear: can he lead his team to a Super Bowl victory in Los Angeles on February 13th? If so, it would just be another similarity that both him and Brady share as the comparisons continue to mount.
