Genuine due respect to John Madden, who achieved great success as a coach and broadcaster, lent his name to a huge video game franchise, and coined the football cliché, “If you’ve got two quarterbacks, you have none.” I think that adage rings true in most cases.
However, in the case of my beloved Cincinnati Bengals, if you’ve got two quarterbacks, and one of them is legitimate MVP contender and the other is a beyond-capable starter, I think you might just have the best overall quarterback situation in the NFL.
I’m referring of course to Joe Burrow and Jake Browning. If you think I’m a homer with my gassing up Burrow as an MVP candidate, allow me to forward you to one of the most respected NFL reporters in the game, Albert Breer. He picked Joey Franchise for the league’s most prestigious individual honor on public record this AM:
💥💥 @TheMMQB Lead, 9.2 💥💥
My MVP pick: @JoeyB.
Joe Burrow's been through a lot the last year. But he never wasted a minute trying to get back to being himself. And now, he's on the doorstep of it.
"You feel his urgency at all times. It's go time."https://t.co/CxtBblkvwT
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 2, 2024
And as if the Monday of NFL Week 1 didn’t have enough of a Christmas morning vibe, us Who Dey Nation loyalists are really feeling it thanks to an excellent deep-dive feature by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham on the “Bengals Brotherhood” friendship between Burrow and his backup Browning.
Among the many revelations in Wickersham’s typically-excellent piece of reporting, one stood out: How Burrow basically shuts everyone out leading up to a game to get himself in a trance-like state of zero thought, digging deep within himself to perform at his best.
As he toiled away and arrived in Cincinnati with his NFL career more or less on life support after being released by the Minnesota Vikings, Browning noticed how Burrow’s demeanor, preparation, and leadership style differed a lot from how he saw Kirk Cousins comport himself. He took some of it to heart, leading to not only the starting opportunity of a lifetime in 2023, but also to changes that helped unlock his potential — as detailed in Wickersham’s piece:
Browning decided to treat preseason games as if they were the playoffs. He stayed at the team hotel, unlike most veterans. He noticed that established players would goof off before kickoff, so he went out of his way to avoid them. And he started a different pregame routine, something more diabolical, something more like Burrow.
He would eat a banana, get a coffee, and listen to a pair of loud and chaotic songs, “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2” by A$AP Rocky and “Unethical & Deceitful” by Mozzy, lyrics describing disrespect, pounding on repeat between his ears until he drifted into a sort of “dark place” where “you don’t feel anything.”
“I’m turning into a serial killer,” Browning told Burrow one day.
“Oh yeah,” Burrow said. “That’s where you gotta be.”
“No emotion.”
“Yeah, that’s how I play my best.”
Trey Wingo told a story a while ago about how, when Burrow was playing basketball as a kid, his coach/sociology professor basically said that his calm under pressure was analogous to that of first responders and serial killers.
Serial killer Joe.
I can’t find them on Twitter, but this comes from The Caps Off Podcast by @TheGameDayNFL. pic.twitter.com/3MAkfrU1st
— Drew Garrison (@DrewGarrison) February 22, 2023
There’s something to be said about the meticulous preparation it takes to be an elite-level NFL quarterback, and how having a ritualistic routine can be invaluable in ensuring consistency on game days. Browning spoke about how Bengals head coach Zac Taylor encouraged him throughout his time with the team to not be afraid to make a mistake. Burrow’s unique approach of not burdening himself with taking unnecessary blame for his teammates’ blunders liberated Browning to an extent as well.
But make no mistake: Browning was an undrafted free agent who may not ever have gotten the chance to start in the pros if not for Burrow’s season-ending injury last season. Browning capitalized on his sliver of an opening, completed 70.4% of his throws, posted a 98.4 passer rating, and went 4-3 in seven starts. All three of those losses came against playoff teams: Two to the Steelers, and one to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs at Arrowhead. Not a bad track record.
The most memorable of Browning’s performances was his vengeful rally to beat the Vikings, where his stone-cold killer veneer slipped to give us one of the greatest soundbites I’ve ever heard.
"They never should've f****** cut me!" – Jake Browning.
What a clip from the @Bengals https://t.co/xkpINGmrTx pic.twitter.com/ybuItiSAWB
— James Rapien (@JamesRapien) December 17, 2023
Browning told Wickersham he “exploded” in that moment. That’s gonna be me for the next several years toward anyone who ever doubted me if Anthony Richardson blows up like I think he will.
Back on topic: Browning was playing so well for a time that Goodell had evidently seen enough. The only conclusion was that the journeyman field general must’ve been on drugs.
Jake Browning's last three games:
vs. Jags: 376 total YDs, 2 total TD (W)
vs. Colts: 282 total YDs, 3 total TD, 1 INT (W)
vs. Vikings: 324 YDs, 2 TD, 1 INT (W)Bengals (8-6) making the playoffs? 👀 pic.twitter.com/wfGyhAEfg5
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 16, 2023
Jake Browning just posted to IG💀 pic.twitter.com/X1rNGZ8pyR
— Sara Elyse (@SaraElyse128) December 16, 2023
Turns out, nope! Quick aside: Looking back on this real-time Tua remark and how Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores treated him when they were together in Miami is especially funny in light of Tua’s recent account of events.
Jake Browning lighting up Tua Tagovailoa Confidence Murderer Brian Flores for 24 points in the 4th/OT makes it all the more beautiful. Maybe he's not such a faux hardo anymore, but 🤷♂️ As Jay Cutler once said, "DOOOOON'T CAAAARE" pic.twitter.com/wv7PK2aH3X
— Matt Fitzgerald (@MattFitz_gerald) December 16, 2023
“If you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did, that you don’t belong, that you shouldn’t be here, that you haven’t earned this…
and then someone come and tells you, ‘You are the best fit for this…How you that make you feel?”
– @Tua describes the… pic.twitter.com/bBHI6IsVlj
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) August 19, 2024
How apropos that I used the word “murderer” and that this would all come back around to a “serial killer” quote from Browning. Synchronicity is a beautiful thing I tell ya.
It’s so f*****g beyond me how nobody picked up the phone this offseason to try to trade for Jake Browning. I legit can’t find a straight answer via any salary cap resources to make me understand if he could’ve been traded after signing his exclusive rights free-agent contract. Maybe that means by agreeing to the terms of that two-year, $1.945 million deal that is peanuts for any starting QB, he can’t play for another team until it expires in 2026. Kind of a bummer for him if that’s the case, but again, I don’t know! This situation is so unprecedented.
All I’m saying is, if Browning is on the books for less than one million buckaroos for the next two seasons, and a QB-needy team that could’ve traded for him said, “Nah, we’re good!”…That’s such flagrant organizational mismanagement that I can’t begin to articulate its egregiousness. Or maybe he just played so well, and the Bengals had him at such a bargain, that they laughed in the faces of anyone who kicked the tires on a prospective trade with anything short of a Day 2 draft pick.
