Joe Burrow's Upside Is Tom Brady
“When Joe threw the ball,” Callahan said of the play, “he knew the spot to put that would be high and a little bit behind. So those guys that are trying to cover from the outside and inside with their eyes turned away from the quarterback, only Tee had the vision to go get the ball.” Those completions tend to create more of the same, Callahan said. Once a receiver gets used to such a throw, they can do it again, and defenders still can’t catch up to it. The result was a 52-yard reception that put the Bengals inside the 5—and provided proof that double coverage doesn’t mean to Burrow what it means to other quarterbacks.
Burrow has a feel for the passing game in a way very few NFL QBs do. The way he has been playing QB, the Bengal's WR core has been talking very differently about him than any other Team talks about their QB.
You see him do a similar underthrow to split double coverage here.
Joe Burrow, an older QB coming out of college, talks about the game in a much different way than most young QBs. While many comments on Patrick Mahomes' scramble and throws or Herbert's poise and delivery, those who have played with Burrow consistently always talk about his ability to take advantage of the intricacies of the game.
The thing is that the only other quarterback who's been spoken about like that is one guy. That one guy is also the absolute goat. Tom Brady
On a third down and 18, the Jaguars were playing a Cover-4 defense, with linebacker Myles Jack covering the middle of the field. Brady dropped back and looked left. Even though the Jaguars had that side of the field well-covered, Jack followed. Brady then snapped his eyes back to the middle of the field and hit Danny Amendola for a first down, the first third-and-15-plus-yard conversion of the season for the Patriots.
“He knows what defense we’re in, he knows where he wants to place the ball. He’s just. . . he’s just so experienced,” Harmon said. “I’m trying to tell you, he makes it hard on the safeties, especially the deep-field safeties of trying to get a good read and a good break on him.”
Whenever they talk about Manning, they always talked preparation and x's o's. Brady was the only guy they would describe making adjustments in such split-second scenarios regarding defenders' movements in real-time. Trust me, Peyton Manning would find Ed Reed's tendencies in the film room and implement them on the field, but Brady had tendencies and intrapersonal communication with his whole receiving corps.
I can't seem to find it on the internet, But in this exact interview on 60 minutes, one of Tom Brady's wide receivers at the time talk about underthrowing in double coverage. I have been scouring the web for the clip but could just find a clip from right before when he is playing catch with Steve Kroft. The interview is from 2005 so it may be scrubbed from the record.
Can Burrow be the next Brady? Absolutely. Its just going to take a ton of trips through a tough AFC for Burrow.