Honestly, how cool is this Joe Burrow? The quarterback had just led the Cincinnati Bengals to the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years with an incredible comeback win at favorites Kansas City Chiefs just a week after the comeback win over favorites Tennessee Titans. What didn’t exist: dances of joy, self-praise, declarations of war. Burrow looked more like someone who happened to walk by the stadium and was asked by the Bengals if he could be the playmaker today – then win the game and then praise the others instead of himself.
“Our defense was just terrific in the second half,” he said after the 27:24 after extra time – in the meantime it had been 21: 3 for the Chiefs: “It’s not a great intermediate result, but we had the feeling that it It’s not necessarily over. If someone had told me a few years ago that I was going to reach the finals with the Bengals, I would have thought that person crazy – now that doesn’t really surprise me.” Again, how cool is this guy?
In any case, Burrow always comes across as someone you trust to stagger out of the disco at five in the morning and ask people playing recreational football on the lawn if he could play a bit. In his left hand he has a nightcap and cigar, which he never puts down – and of course he would win and then smile and congratulate everyone on having fun. Here’s what sets him apart from other playmakers: Tom Brady always looks like he’s worried about something on the pitch; Aaron Rodgers like a father of five, annoyed by other fathers for not appreciating the new grill; Cam Newton pretends to be Superman.
One shouldn’t take Joe Burrow’s manner as a weakness
Don’t make the mistake of interpreting Burrow’s nonchalance as a weakness – on the contrary: it’s a sign of insecurity when someone keeps beating their chests or constantly pointing out their own greatness. Burrow sticks to the wonderful mantra “Jantelagen”, which Abba legend Björn Kristian Ulvaeus described as follows: “Why brag – especially when you don’t have to?”
Burrow already knows he’s good, says his mentor Archie Manning. He was an NFL quarterback himself and is the father of two-time Super Bowl winners Peyton and Eli. “He knows who he is; and he acts like someone who knows who he wants to be,” says Manning. The two met at one of Manning’s quarterback camps, and it’s important that Burrow got there: It explains who he is today, how he plays today, and why he comes across as one of the coolest in sports history. Like racing driver James Hunt or tennis player Vitas Gerulaitis, for example, of which unfortunately there are hardly any nowadays.
Burrow, 25, grew up in the small town of Athens, a two-and-a-half hour drive from Cincinnati. As a high school pusher, he was rated three stars by talent scouts – as one who didn’t quite compete with the gifted after all. At the Ohio State Football University, he did not make it to the regular player and confirmed the three-star rating in the five-star squad. He quickly earned a finance degree (you never know) and transferred to Louisiana State University. There he met Ja’Marr Chase, whom he now passes the balls back to the pros; six times for 54 yards gain and a touchdown on Sunday.
In between, he attended Manning camp, boosted his confidence, and, before graduating from college (this time in art, you never know), had what was widely considered the greatest season in college football history. There’s one photo that has since become a trademark: Burrow crouching in the dressing room with a cigar in his mouth and his legs crossed, just chilling after winning the title and Heisman Trophy for best singles player.
He then joked about his supposedly small hands (the NFL measures everything that can be measured) and lacking athleticism: he published a shirtless photo in which he looked even more unsportsmanlike than Tom Brady once did – now the best playmaker of history. Oh yeah, when he got the trophy, he wasn’t talking about himself or his sponsors; preferring to talk about poverty in his hometown, he raised $450,000 in donations.
“I am who I am because life hasn’t always been easy for me,” says Burrow: “Look at the playmakers in the playoffs – there are many who had problems, sometimes only as a professional.” His quarterback opponent in the Super Bowl will be Matthew Stafford, who spent 12 unsuccessful years with the Detroit Lions, winning his first playoff game this season with the Los Angeles Rams and winning his first game after beating the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 reached the final.
Burrow walks through life like someone who has already won the jackpot at the casino, now gambles with the profit and takes setbacks calmly – such as the cruciate ligament rupture in his first season. He then wrote to his parents about how great his colleagues had been at catching balls, and on Twitter he wrote: “You won’t get rid of me that easily – see you next year.”
Now he has led the Bengals to the final, the football franchise has never won the title in its 53-year history. Nature has filled Burrow’s veins with ice water instead of blood – but only the greats get the nickname “Joe Cool” in football: Joe Namath or Joe Montana, for example, both Super Bowl winners. Burrow can earn it in two weeks; in LA, against the local Rams. How cool would that be?