Tom Brady Indirectly Fires Shots at Joe Burrow for Prioritizing Personal Milestones over the Team

Joe Burrow and the Bengals failed to qualify for yet another postseason last year after finishing third in the AFC North with 9-8 record.

Tom Brady Indirectly Fires Shots at Joe Burrow for Prioritizing Personal Milestones over the Team

Tom Brady and Joe Burrow (Image via Imago)

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Former New England Patriots/Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady indirectly criticized Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for the lack of off-the-field investment. Burrow, a former Heisman Trophy winner, has failed to advance to the playoffs in the past two seasons after a franchise-drought-ending performance in 2021 and a repeat qualification in 2022.

Joe Burrow finished last season as the league leader in passing attempts, completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. He also posted his career-best completion rate. Burrow also became the only quarterback to ever finish a season with more than 4500 passing yards, 40 passing touchdowns with less than 10 interceptions, and not win the MVP.

The Bengals, on the other hand, failed to qualify for the second year in a row. They had a slow start to the league, losing four of their first five games, including a Week 1 loss to a meek New England Patriots. They relied on mathematical probabilities and the outcomes of other Week 18 games, but one of the three crucial fixtures for the Bengals’ qualification went the wrong way. At the end, Burrow blamed himself for the postseason miss.

He did perform. So did the offense. It was defense where the Bengals faltered. But Brady subtly claimed that Burrow should have been investing time to ensure the defense was set or nudge the management to do so.

Brady was speaking with Joel Klatt on The Joel Klatt: A College Football Podcast about why he considers Patrick Mahomes as the most dependable quarterback in the league.

‘I did my job, I threw for 40 touchdowns, why are we not winning?’ What are you doing in the offseason to help your defense? What are you doing to push the personnel department to get people doing the right thing? Are you involved in game planning?

Tom Brady said

Heading into the new season, there’s a lot of expectations from Burrow. Recently, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky ranked Burrow as the best thrower in the league while admiring his ball delivery as “flawless”.

Slow starts are a key reason why Joe Burrow and Cincinnati Bengals have been suffering

The key reason behind the Cincinnati Bengals’ consecutive playoff misses in past two seasons after back-to-back AFC Championship appearances would be their slow starts to the regular season. This Bengals trend started in 2019 when Zac Taylor took over the team. In six seasons, they have won just one Week 1 game.

Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow (Image via Bustle)

In fact, their Week 1 and Week 2 combined record ever since is 1-11. Yes, they haven’t won Week 2 games in the last six years. Their sole Week 1 win was in 2021 when Burrow led them to a narrow overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings. Furthermore, 2021 and 2022 were the only seasons where the Bengals held a winning record heading into the bye week.

In 2024, they started with a loss with New England Patriots, who later selected fourth in the spring draft. They lost the next two matches to eventual conference finalists Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Commanders. They picked up one win in Week 4 before losing yet again in Week 5 to a division rival.

There might be a reason behind this slow start. The Bengals haven’t utilized their starters in the preseason much, meaning that they take time to ease into the pressures of the league. Although Burrow played only 14 snaps in the first preseason game this year, it is more than his first five seasons combined.

The chance of being hit is one of the biggest reasons why the Bengals have chosen not to play the quarterback. However, the exact reason was attributed by Taylor as a reason to play Burrow and other offensive players. Taylor admitted wanting to test and train his players against the potential of being hit.

After losing the first preseason game, the Bengals return to action on Monday to take on the Washington Commanders. They will play the Indianapolis Colts on August 23 before starting their season with clash against the Cleveland Browns.

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