Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo had quite a bit to say about Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow during Super Bowl media chats with reporters this week.
Spagnuolo, like many have already, tossed out a Tom Brady comparison for Burrow.
What might interest fans the most, though, is what the defensive coordinator told Burrow on the field right after the Chiefs beat the Bengals in the AFC title game this year.
“I told him after the game, ‘I have so much respect for you, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “I’m an old high school quarterback and I think he’s terrific the way he operates and plays the game.”
As for the Brady comparison, Spagnuolo went on a bit of a deep dive when asked to expand:
“I’ve said this before. I see a young Tom Brady. Not just his talent, but I love his killer instinct. He’s a killer and when your quarterback is like that, the other ten around him are like that. It makes the whole offense that much tougher. I have a great deal of respect for him…I don’t know if it’s the gleam in his eye or the things he says. You hear him sometimes. But I watch him. We’re always looking at the (game) broadcasts. The way the TV and the cameras zoom in, you see him pre snap with his eyes and what he’s looking at. Even after a play, nothing bothers him. Like he never gets rattled.”
This sort of comparison means quite a lot coming from a defensive mind like Spagnuolo. It’s one thing for fans to hear it from the likes of media talking heads and scouts. It’s another thing entirely to hear it from a long-time NFL coach explicitly tasked with stopping quarterbacks who has had head-to-head matchups with Brady himself.
And while the week leading up to the AFC title game seemed highlighted by the supposed trash talk between the teams, this is just another example of the respect the two teams really have for each other.
Comments from Travis Kelce said as much. So too did the post-game meeting between Burrow and Patrick Mahomes.
