"We think Patrick Mahomes is better, but Joe Burrow keeps beating him." Stephen A claims Bengals QB could be Tom Brady's successor
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes are two of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Burrow was drafted in 2020, while Mahomes was drafted in 2017. Both quarterbacks were first-round picks.
While they're still early on in their careers, they've established themselves as two of the best in the league. Burrow led his Bengals to the Super Bowl in his second season while winning Comeback Player of the Year, and Patrick Mahomes is a Super-Bowl winning quarterback who has also won league MVP.
Patrick Mahomes is 24 years old, has made 36 NFL starts, and his resume already includes:
• NFL MVP award
• Super Bowl ring + SB MVP
• 5,000-yd passing season
• 50-TD pass season
• 3 double-digit comeback playoff wins
• 4th-qtr comeback win in Super Bowl https://t.co/VNbecTwlM5
While many think Mahomes has done more and is ahead in his career compared to Burrow, Stephen A. Smith made a point that maybe Burrow has the upper hand on Mahomes.
Stephen A said:
"Even though Joe Burrow has lost a Super Bowl. The bottom line is that was the second year in the league, his first full season, because he got hurt his rookie year, his first full season, he took them to the Super Bowl. And so when you look at it from that perspective and you don't look at the Cincinnati Bengals defense and say, well, they carrying him.
"You look at Joe Burrow with Chase and Higgins and those boys. It's like, no, it's about that offense. Okay. Very early from the jump start, it was about Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow has transformed that franchise. We don't talk about the Bengals anymore with bags over their heads."
Smith compared the Burrow-Mahomes rivalry to the Brady-Manning rivalry and alluded to how everyone thought Manning was better than Brady until Brady started beating him all the time. He made that some comparison to Burrow always beating Mahomes:
"Things have changed. That wasn't the case with Tom Brady. Okay. And so you got to look at it from those two perspectives. And last but not least, we see that this is where the similarity comes in. Repeatedly, we saw Tom Brady. But many people thought Peyton Manning was better. But Tom Brady would beat him. Right?
"We think Patrick Mahomes is better, but Joe Burrow keeps beating him. Yeah, that's the similarity. And so we got to pay attention to that moving forward. And that's why we got to look at Joe Burrow and say, 'Yo, you know, he's that dude, we can't deny.'"
Joe Burrow is 3-0 vs. Patrick Mahomes in head-to-head games and has beaten him all three times in 2022
Stephen A. Smith does have a point. Every single time Burrow faced off against Mahomes, his team won. He has a 3-0 record vs. Mahomes' Chiefs.
From the Make-It-Make-Sense Dept:
@JoeyB vs. Chiefs: 3-0
Burrow vs. Browns: 0-4
Each of the Bengals' three victories have been by three points. The first of those wins came on Jan. 2, when the Bengals clinched the AFC North title with a 34-31 victory.
Four weeks later, on Jan. 30, the Bengals defeated the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game 27-24 in overtime to go to the Super Bowl.
On Dec. 2, the Bengals defeated the Chiefs 27-24 in Week 13.
The two will have a chance of facing off again this season in the playoffs, with Mahomes getting another chance at earning a victory over the Burrow-led Bengals.
If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Stephen A. Smith, ESPN First Take, and H/T Sportskeeda.