We wrote about this last year, when then-LSU quarterback Joe Burrow had no business whatsoever winning the Heisman Trophy. Now, as a rookie QB with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL, he is being overrated once again in light of a gruesome injury suffered on November 22 in a game.

Let us start by saying we hate the fact Burrow was hurt: Reports are his knee is really messed up, and we won’t bother linking to the video of the injury. We would not wish this kind of trauma on any athlete, period.

That being said, Burrow was not having a “great” rookie season, despite what nonsense the mediot experts are claiming right now. Their bias is based on volume, not quality, and we’ve seen this malarky so many times before from pundits who should know better.

Some basic, factual stats for those who want them:

  • Burrow’s 2-7-1 record as a starting QB ranks 36th in the NFL right now;
  • His 65.3-percent completion percentage ranks 23rd in the NFL right now;
  • His 3.2-percent TD rate ranks 27th in the NFL right now;
  • His 1.2-percent INT rate ranks 5th in the NFL right now;
  • His 6.7 yards-per-attempt average ranks 26th in the NFL right now;
  • His 7.3-percent sack rate ranks 25th in the NFL right now;
  • His 89.8 QB rating ranks 24th in the NFL right now;
  • His 58.6 QBR ranks 25th in the NFL right now;
  • He doesn’t have a single “game-winning drive” to his credit in 2020.

Keep in mind, there are only 32 teams in the NFL, so when you’re ranked outside the Top 24 in any category, you’re in the bottom quartile of players at your position. That’s the prime definition of bad, in fact.

The only thing Burrow seems to be good at is avoiding interceptions—which is nice for a rookie QB, obviously. He’s really not very good at anything else.

But the “experts” won’t tell you this: They will point out he is second in passing attempts (behind only Tom Brady) and 10th in passing yards. They will hype that he would have set records in both for rookie QBs if he’d played a full season.

So, volume is their logic—not sabermetric quality at all. They’re not letting the pesky little facts above get in the way of their bullshit at all. We wish Burrow well on his injury recovery, but we are not holding breath that he is some rookie phenom; he never would have been a legitimate candidate for the NFL Rookie of the Year Award with the garbage stats above on his slate.