Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow took different paths to the AFC Championship

Burrow has a lot of questions to answer about his soccer potential as he nears high school. He entered Ohio State’s 2015 recruiting class as a three-star player, according to Rivals.com. He stayed in Columbus until 2018, when he moved to Louisiana State after Dwayne Haskins beat him to the Buckeyes starting job.

In graduate school, Burrow led the Tigers in 2019 to one of the most dominant seasons in college football history, undefeated en route to a national champion on Clemson.

Archie Manning, a former New Orleans Saints quarterback and father of former NFL quarterbacks Peyton and Eli, developed a mentoring relationship with Burrow in 2019 after he attended his soccer camp, Manning Passing Academy , three years after Mahomes did.

“He handles himself very well, but obviously he wants to be a good player,” Manning said in an interview on Wednesday. “And he believes he’s a good player.”

Burrow had a promising rookie season in 2020, with 13 touchdowns and more than 2,600 passes in 10 games, but it was derailed when he tore multiple ligaments in his left knee. In this season’s return, Burrow is back to throwing more than 4,500 yards with a 70% completion rate, thanks in part to the Bengals that have made his college teammate Ja’Marr Chase a regular target.

“I think I am who I am because of the tough times I went through in my career,” said Burrow, “and if you look at the quarterbacks in the knockout stages, a lot of them experienced a lot of adversity throughout their careers, including being in high school without a job offer. ”

The combination of Burrow and Chase, who set a single-game rookie record (266 yards) against Kansas City earlier this month, pushed the Bengal team into the Super Bowl, an early sign that a successful rebuild in Cincinnati after years of mediocrity was marked by missed playoffs. Sunday will be the Bengals’ first appearance at the congress championship in more than 30 years.