Berlin – When the battle was over, as Joseph Lee “Joe” Burrow took another step closer to superstar status as he talked freshly showered about getting into the Super Bowl, the up-and-coming quarterback shone almost as brightly as the diamonds on his necklace the pendant of his initials “JB9”.
The bling “are definitely real,” Burrow said, grinning. “I make too much money to have fake ones. Well, these are real.” And fans of the Cincinnati Bengals, recently the NFL’s laughingstock, agree: This young rascal is worth every penny of the $36 million guarantee guaranteed by his four-year contract.
The experts agreed that Burrow has a golden future ahead of him. But the fact that the 25-year-old leads his Bengals to the final in his second year as a professional is a sensation. Especially since Cincinnati was 3:21 behind the Kansas City Chiefs around superstar Patrick Mahomes at halftime. But then Burrow, endowed with an unshakeable confidence, went for it. The Bengals quarterback threw two touchdown passes. In extra time, the strong kicker Evan McPherson scored the decisive field goal. Mahomes had three touchdown passes, but he made an interception in overtime that the Bengals used to win.
In the end, after a breathtaking comeback, it was 27:24 after overtime for Burrow and Co., Cincinnati experienced only the third Super Bowl on February 13 against the host Los Angeles Rams after 1982 and 1989, when the Bengals lost to the San Francisco 49ers . “He just finds ways to make plays when there’s no play,” head coach Zac Taylor said. And the NFL wrote on its website, “Burrow is the NFL’s new ‘Joe Cool,'” heir to the great Joe Montana. Because he keeps calm even under massive pressure.
His teammates then heaved Burrow onto their shoulders and he high-fived the fans – in record time, Burrow turned the losing Cincinnati team into a title contender. He was only drafted two years ago, and he tore his cruciate ligament in the preseason. But for Burrow himself, the sensation is not at all. He had had the “feeling” throughout the season “that we would have a chance,” he said.
And: “We’re not done yet,” said Taylor of his young, hungry team with prospects. Cincinnati’s title window opens earlier than expected – thanks to “JB9”. Nature “has filled ice water in Burrow’s veins instead of blood,” wrote the Süddeutsche Zeitung about the beacon of hope. The team jumps on Burrow’s back “and he’ll carry us as far as we let him,” Taylor said. There’s a lot to suggest that Burrow is value for money.