Joe Burrow

[BroncosDivision]

It was an impressive schedule no doubt, and I'm not taking away anything from it, I just hate when the media reports the teams they beat like this. Because it inflates teams that were over ranked. As an example Texas was a preseason 9 when LSU beat them, but they were an 8-5 team that finished 25th in one poll and unranked in the other. So they didn't really beat the 9th best team.

But looking at the final rankings it's still impressive:
Texas 25/NR
Florida 6/7
Auburn 14/14
Alabama 8/8
Georgia 4/4
Oklahoma 7/6
Clemson 2/2

I don't disagree, although the final rank/form isn't perfect either. You know it as well as I do. Some teams start out fast and end up collapsing. Vice versa. Some play above expectations throughout. Some run into key injuries and so on. There really isn't a perfect methodology that will tell the whole story for every team out there. That's why I went with the AP rank at the time they played LSU/Burrow.

Either way, I still find it mightily impressive what he's accomplished and as you mentioned in another post, it's only one season. However, I don't know if I'm willing to use that as a huge red flag, although it certainly could be. But man, his play was so convincing and unlike anything I've ever seen from a college quarterback before. There's very little not to like here, imo. I don't think Bengals will be able to screw this one up.

[BroncosDivision]

Bengals coaches: Joe Burrow 'checks off a lot of boxes'

By Kevin Patra
Around the NFL Writer

Joe Burrow is coming off one of the greatest seasons for a quarterback in college football history, leading his LSU team to a national championship while throwing for bonkers numbers. The QB is the presumptive No. 1 selection heading into the draft.

The team with the top pick needs a quarterback of the future. Refreshingly, those Cincinnati Bengals aren't reticent to discuss Burrow.

"He definitely checks off a lot of boxes early on in the evaluation process," quarterbacks coach Andy Van Pelt told the team's official website. "He obviously looks like a very intriguing guy."

As the Bengals prep to coach the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., offensive coordinator Brian Callahan and Van Pelt provided glowing scouting reports about Burrow.

"He's got natural pocket feel. He feels it," Callahan said. "It seems like he never takes his eyes off down the field. He extends the play really, really well. He's a lot faster than you might assume when you see him running away from all those SEC guys. He's got incredible up-field accuracy. The ball hardly ever hits the ground in a game, which is rare. He just naturally puts the ball in places where those guys can make plays."

Van Pelt added: "Creates on the move. Obviously takes care of the ball. Makes good decisions. You can see that with his touchdown-to-interception ratio (60-6). I got to see him (in real time on TV) in the last two games of the year and then when you watch the tape, you're seeing the same things. "

In 15 games this season, the 23-year-old quarterback completed 76.3 percent of his passes for 5,671 yards, 60 touchdowns, just six interceptions, a whopping 10.8 yards per attempt average and 12.5 adjusted passing yards per attempt.

There seems no bigger slam-dunk than Cincinnati making the Ohio-native the No. 1 overall selection in April's draft. Sure, the Bengals have found ways to screw things up in the past, but turning in the card with Burrow's name on it is a no-brainer for a franchise that has wallowed in QB mediocrity.

The question for this offseason should revolve around how the Bengals offense under Zac Taylor fits Burrow's skillset. Callahan noted that all NFL teams have stolen concepts from the Saints offense, which passing game coordinator Joe Brady brought to LSU, jumpstarting Burrow's massive season.

"We've got a lot of similarities with their pass game. A lot of NFL offenses do," Callahan noted. "He ran a lot of elements of what they did in New Orleans. Getting guys in space. Getting people in matchups. You see a lot of pro passing concepts in their offense and they did a really good job. But they are things that you see around the league. It's all things that fit very well with what we do and a lot of people do."

Unlike the Bengals, not a lot of people own the No. 1 pick and can make Burrow part of its offense for years to come.

Link to article:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001097048/article/bengals-coaches-joe-burrow-checks-off-a-lot-of-boxes

[Dennis.1960]

Is Joe Burrow a truly generational QB, a once in a decade can't miss QB? Or is he a really really good college QB who just had an excellent season?

I ask because I honestly don't know? From the games I've watched he looks impressive, his accuracy looks excellent, his mobility has been good, and he checks a lot of boxes.

Quarterback is the most important position in the game, and I would trade up to get one, but I'm not sure that I would ever pay what it takes to get the number 1 overall pick. My biggest red flag with Burrow is that it's such a difference between last year and this year. I know they changed the offense, but the numbers are nowhere near the same, is his play sustainable at that level?

A reason I think his play is sustainable (I mean sustainable in the sense of having success, not always having a 60TD - 6 INT year) is he had this amazing season running basically a New Orleans Saints based pro offense...not a college offense. The fact that he wasn't setting the scoreboard on fire last year with that college offense, but this year on a pro offense makes me think he's the real deal for the NFL. Of course players move faster and DC's are sneakier and smarter in the NFL, but I think he can adjust to that very well. Look at the 1st 3 series of the championship game when Clemson's D completely shut LSU down (of course some of that was field position...it's tough to run your regular offense when you're repeatedly inside your own 10). Once Clemson scored and the field position allowed the full offense, Burrow & LSU began looking like the offense they'd been all year

[Butler By'Note]

I don't disagree, although the final rank/form isn't perfect either. You know it as well as I do. Some teams start out fast and end up collapsing. Vice versa. Some play above expectations throughout. Some run into key injuries and so on. There really isn't a perfect methodology that will tell the whole story for every team out there. That's why I went with the AP rank at the time they played LSU/Burrow.

Either way, I still find it mightily impressive what he's accomplished and as you mentioned in another post, it's only one season. However, I don't know if I'm willing to use that as a huge red flag, although it certainly could be. But man, his play was so convincing and unlike anything I've ever seen from a college quarterback before. There's very little not to like here, imo. I don't think Bengals will be able to screw this one up.

And that's the proper way to do it based on precedence. So I don't fault you in anyway, and wasn't saying you were wrong, just pointing out that I always wished they did it differently because it can skew so much over the season. Going both ways, if you beat Team X early in the season and they're ranked 20th at the time, but then they don't lose again in the season and finish first after winning the championship, you really beat the best team in the country, not the 20th ranked team that history will give you credit for.

I also find it impressive what they and he did this season.

[Butler By'Note]

A reason I think his play is sustainable (I mean sustainable in the sense of having success, not always having a 60TD - 6 INT year) is he had this amazing season running basically a New Orleans Saints based pro offense...not a college offense. The fact that he wasn't setting the scoreboard on fire last year with that college offense, but this year on a pro offense makes me think he's the real deal for the NFL. Of course players move faster and DC's are sneakier and smarter in the NFL, but I think he can adjust to that very well. Look at the 1st 3 series of the championship game when Clemson's D completely shut LSU down (of course some of that was field position...it's tough to run your regular offense when you're repeatedly inside your own 10). Once Clemson scored and the field position allowed the full offense, Burrow & LSU began looking like the offense they'd been all year

Great points, and yes in "sustainable" I meant playing at a high level in general, not the 60 TD high level. And I believe that he played at an NFL starter level this year, in the games I watched.

[Dennis.1960]

Great points, and yes in "sustainable" I meant playing at a high level in general, not the 60 TD high level. And I believe that he played at an NFL starter level this year, in the games I watched.

I think the thing about Burrow that impressed me most all season was his poise in the championship game. The 1st 3 offensive series for LSU were brutal. Clemson completely outplayed, outcoached, and dominated us in the trenches and all phases of the game and it looked like the upset was going to be a slaughter. LSU was down double digits for the first time all season (I had to laugh at Clemson coach Dabo Swinney...at 17-7 he was acting like they had it in the bag). Burrow never blinked, showed frustration or let Clemson or his teammates see anything but quiet confidence that we were going to eventually figure this D out and answer (that answer came in a 21 point, 259 total yards 2nd quarter). That's the thing that made Elway so dangerous to opposing teams, he always believed we were never out of it. That's the confidence a successful NFL level QB must have...that unshaking belief that no matter how bad things look (think of Elway on The Drive, The Drive II, and all those Q4 comebacks) that he'll lead the team to turn it around.

I know 1 college game - even the biggest game of the year with a championship on the line - isn't enough to accurately predict what kind of NFL QB he'll be, but I can't imagine a college QB finishing his senior year with a bigger exclamation mark and more promise than Burrow in 2019.

I will admit I'm highly biased but doing my best to be objective