Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow appeared last week with Nelk on the Full Send Podcast, discussing everything from his expectations ahead of last season's memorable AFC Championship to the Baltimore Ravens' trash talk, and Super Bowl halftime to getting on stage with teammates during Kid Cudi's concert at a post-Super Bowl 56 party.
"You don't really want to talk (expletive) to me," Burrow said. "Defensive linemen sometimes (talk trash). But then I'll make them miss and they won't say anything for the rest of the game. Linebackers sometimes - if they get a decent hit on me. There's definitely some people out there that will give you - more so your rookie year - hit you a little bit after the whistle. Because they know you're not gonna get a call as a rookie. Because that's the thing - in the NFL - you've got to earn your calls. ... Defensive lineman hits you after the ball is thrown, they're not gonna call it if you're not playing well. You've got to earn that. ... We were playing the Eagles my rookie year and Fletcher Cox - I think they had eight sacks, and they were hitting me a bunch - and Fletcher hits me after the play and comes up to me later and was like, 'Hey man, you gotta throw that away.' And I looked at him and said, 'Just give me a couple of years and I'll get that call.' And I think he liked that. ... My rookie year - I got zero roughing-the-passer calls. Zero. I mean there was a couple every game. And then this year - first half of the year - zero. And then I think at some point somebody made a call and was like, 'Hey, we gotta keep this guy on the field.'"
"I love playing the Ravens," Burrow added. "I love playing the Ravens because they talk. They talk. I love that. (The score) was a lot to a little (in both of the Bengals' wins against Baltimore last season). I threw for 520-something in the second one and I threw for 400-something in the first one. ... Yeah, I love playing the Ravens. They like to talk. I don't start the talking. But somebody pokes me, I can talk a little bit."
One of the Bengals two scheduled Sunday Night Football games on NBC this season is set for Oct. 9 against the Ravens in Baltimore. NFL analyst and former Ravens linebacker Bart Scott said last December that Burrow "won a lifetime career ass-kicking" by passing the ball when Cincinnati was routing Baltimore during the fourth quarter.
Burrow explained why he celebrated with teammates after the team's first Super Bowl appearance since 1989.
"Here's the thing. It's not so much as resuming life. But I was watching - you guys watch 'The Football Life' on NFL Network? I was watching a bunch of those leading up to the game and Kurt Warner said something. When he lost the Super Bowl, he regretted not celebrating what they had accomplished. ... He went and sulked in a corner. And after the game, I was like, 'Yeah, it sucks. We just lost the Super Bowl but we did something really cool.' And I wanted to celebrate with the guys about what we did for the year and all the success that we had rather than, you know, sit in a corner and sulk about the game we just lost. ... (Kid Cudi) wanted to whole team up there. So we got up there, and I mean we were having fun. We were celebrating what we had accomplished. Obviously the game sucked but ..."
Burrow said he could hear the Super Bowl 56 halftime show going on from the locker room, but was focused on the task at hand: "That game is definitely different because so halftime in the NFL (regular season) is super quick. Like in, you're out. Five minutes, seven minutes maybe? And that one is like 45 minutes. So you're in there a lot longer. So you've got to stay warm in the locker room. You're throwing in the locker room - keeping the arm warm. Going through dynamic warmup, all that good stuff. ... I'm not a big speech guy. No. Somebody's got to."
Asked whether the Bengals were big underdogs in the AFC Championship against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, Burrow said, "Who knows? I don't know. I don't look at that."
Asked whether he expected the Bengals - before the season started - to play in the Super Bowl, Burrow said, "No, I did not. I mean, I just didn't have that experience of having that success in the NFL. So I didn't really know what it took. I know once you get in the playoffs, you know, anything can happen. And we know how to win a game. But we didn't have that experience. I expected to go to the playoffs coming into the year. I think every team does. But going to the Super Bowl after we won four games and I tore everything in my knee? I thought that was kind of a pipe dream until we started getting to the end of the year and I was like, 'We're pretty damn good.' Going into the playoffs, we were playing the best of any team in the AFC, I thought. And it was just clicking at the right time. And then once we won those first two playoff games, it was like, 'Alright. It's on.' ... That next week, I treated (the Super Bowl) like a normal game week. I went and watched the game the day after - say, 'I can get better here, here and here.' Then put it behind me."
Burrow said he looked forward to a potential showdown with Tom Brady and the Bucs next season. "I mean, did anybody actually think he was going to be retired?" Burrow said of Brady. "You guys gotta know better than that. He's playing way too well to give it up right now. I think he wanted to shut down the conversation. Because if didn't announce his retirement, everyone would be talking about 'Is he retiring? Is he not retiring?' So I think he went ahead and did it to get everyone off his back so he could go think about it. I don't think he changed his mind. I think he just did that to go and think about it thoroughly."
Asked about comparing himself and Ja'Marr Chase to other quarterback-receiver tandems, Burrow said, "I don't like making those comparisons. I try to stay away from that because I want to be me. I don't want to ... I watch other quarterbacks but I don't try to take anything because I want to be the best player that I can be and what I can do good."
Asked about not attending the 2020 NFL Draft in person because of the pandemic, Burrow said, "I was kind of happy that I got to stay home and celebrate with my family. The draft is crazy these days with all the media stuff and pictures - not real into that. ... I was kinda gonna stay home anyway if they had it. I was glad I didn't have to make that decision because COVID ended up happening. I didn't have to tell (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell that I wasn't going to come knowing that I was the first pick in the draft. So it kind of worked out."
"I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but (the Bengals) had told me months in advance that I was gonna be the guy," Burrow added. "So I was like, 'Alright, let's go. Game time.' I was excited to come back (to Ohio). Because I didn't get to play football in Ohio after high school. So I was excited to come back and be close to home. I knew a lot of people in Cincinnati. Columbus is close, Athens is close. So I was excited to come back."
Discussing the Bengals' chemistry, Burrow said, "At this level, everyone has great players. Talent is all over the place. The relationships that you make in the locker room translate to the field as far as 'I trust that guy - he's gonna do his job.' And I think building that trust in the locker room is paramount. ... We haven't had any (animosity in the locker room). We really haven't. I think that part of building the culture that we've built. Our head coach, Zac (Taylor), did a great job, and I'm just kind of following his lead building that culture. You know, everybody loves everybody in that locker room. And, you know, we got guys out that didn't fit that mold. ... We had a lot of great veteran guys that knew what the deal was. They knew I was the No. 1 pick - I was gonna come in and be the starter. And, you know, they really helped me along and pushed me to be a leader. I didn't really feel comfortable doing it at first and then, you know, as I started playing better, it was, you know, a lot easier."
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