Heading into Sunday’s matchday, Matthew Stafford and Joe Burrow had almost nothing in common, other than being first-round picks in the National Football League draft. Now they will participate in the next Super Bowl.
Since leaving college football powerhouses, Stafford and Burrow have taken very different paths.
After completing his career at the University of Georgia, Stafford was selected first overall in the 2009 draft. He then spent a decade trying not to get roughed up in the uniform of the Detroit Lions.
Always seen as a good player on a bad team — the Lions are that rare franchise that existed before the birth of the Super Bowl and never played — Stafford was rescued by the Los Angeles Rams last year.
In his first season in California, he helped the Rams get to the final game, and along the way he made a very special, and seemingly irresistible, connection with star receiver Cooper Kupp.
“I couldn’t be more grateful to Matthew Stafford,” head coach Sean McVay said after his quarterback completed 31 of 45 passes for 337 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday in a 1-0 win. 20-17 against the San Francisco 49ers in the National Conference Finals.
To say that Stafford is vastly superior to Jared Goff, his predecessor with the Rams and the first player chosen in 2016, is too obvious.
Stafford has a better arm, better technique, handles pressure better—statistically, he’s the best passer in the NFL against the blitz—and, quite simply, has better command of the most important position on the court. .
Yes, in 2018 Goff went to the Super Bowl with the Rams, who lost to the New England Patriots on a pitiful offensive display. But in many ways, Stafford led the Rams to the ultimate game rather than just being a passenger in the convoy.
“The script couldn’t be written any better,” Stafford said. “I am at a loss for words. I’m having a blast playing with these guys, and we have another game at our stadium. Let’s complete the job. »
In two weeks, the Rams (15-5) will take part in the Super Bowl where, for the second consecutive year after 54 editions without this happening, a team will play the grand final of American football on its field. It happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season.
With his offensive ammunition (Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr., in particular) and defensive stars like star tackle Aaron Donald and linebacker Von Miller, a Super Bowl champion with the Denver Broncos in 2015, Stafford is in excellent position to conclude his first season in Los Angeles with a conquest of the Vince-Lombardi trophy.
But he will have to overcome Burrow, in his second season as a professional, and the Cincinnati Bengals (13-7).
Like Stafford, Burrow joined a struggling franchise. Either, the Bengals have made the playoffs on several occasions since the start of the 21and century. However, under Marvin Lewis, they lost seven straight playoff games.
And when the Bengals finished the 2019 season with a 2-14 record while Burrow set records and led Louisiana State University to an NCAA championship, this one became a draft staple.
Yet his knee injury after 10 games (2-7-1 as a starter) seemed so natural for the Bengals. Again, something good, potentially, would go wrong.
However, a lot has gone right over the past month, and now Burrow has guided his team to their first Super Bowl appearance in 33 years.
A good hurt investment turned into a safe and healthy investment with a bright future.
“I wouldn’t say it’s surreal, I would say it’s exciting,” Burrow described,
“I think if you had told me before the season that we were going to the Super Bowl, I would have probably called you crazy. Then we play the whole season and nothing surprises me now. »
It’s never surprising to see a player as talented as Burrow find success in the NFL. However, it’s no wonder that a player of Stafford’s caliber is bogged down in an unfavorable context.
When you look at the quarterbacks who have been claimed first in draft picks, you have the Peyton brothers and Eli Manning, but also David Carr and JaMarcus Russell. For every John Elway, there’s a Sam Bradford. Like there was a Troy Aikman in 1989 and a Jeff George in 1990.
Only once in Super Bowl history have two quarterbacks picked first overall in the draft crossed swords: It was six years ago when Peyton Manning and the Broncos defeated Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.
On Sunday February 13 at SoFi Stadium, either Stafford after his marathon or Burrow after his sprint will lift the Lombardi trophy. This is exactly what the top of the class are supposed to accomplish.