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Calling a quarterback similar to Tom Brady is a high honor and O.J. Simpson reserved it for Joe Burrow. The Cincinnati Bengals player and his team started slowly but are slowly hitting their stride and now sit at 4-3. They have now won three straight games, including their latest against a strong San Francisco 49ers side.
The former running back said that at the present moment, Joe Burrow and the Bengals are the best team in the league. He also said that the quarterback reminded him of Tom Brady, his full comments being,
"Nobody's playing better ball than Cincinnati right now. Cincinnati gets this stride, and Joe Burrow is totally healthy. When he's healthy, he's the closest thing to Tom Brady as far as game plan."
Is O.J. Simpson right to compare Joe Burrow to Tom Brady?
There is something to be said about O.J. Simpson's assertion that Joe Burrow is coming into form now in the season. The Bengals quarterback was struggling with a calf injury coming into the season and that seriously hampered his performances.
In the first four games of the season, Joe Burrow had two touchdowns and two interceptions. Those two touchdowns came in one game against the Baltimore Ravens in a defeat and he went three games without throwing a scoring pass. Against the Tennessee Titans and the Cleveland Browns, the Bengals scored just three points.
Since then, he has been a player revitalized. In the last three games, he has eight touchdowns and just two interceptions. In their latest match, against the San Francisco 49ers, he completed 28 of his 32 passes for an astonishing 87.5 percent completion rate. He also threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions and ended up with a passer rating of 134.8.
So, O.J. Simpson is right that Joe Burrow is coming into the form that saw Cincinnati make him the highest-paid player in NFL history with a $275 million contract. But if he is being compared to Tom Brady, he needs to show it in the playoffs.
It is true that Burrow has led his team to two AFC Championships and one Super Bowl but he is yet to win a championship. Tom Brady won seven of them and two in the very first couple of seasons as a starter. If Joe Burrow has to catch up to the GOAT of all time, then he needs to start winning rings.
As good as he is and as well as he is playing now, maybe O.J. Simpson needs to hold the comparisons until Burrow achieves a Super Bowl win.
