THE THREE JOES: NAMATH, MONTANA AND BURROW

Tomorrow, February 13, Super Bowl LVI between the Los Angeles Rams and the upstart Cincinnati Bengals will be played in Los Angeles.

Subplots abound of course, but perhaps the most interesting one involves Bengals second-year quarterback, Joe Burrow.

Two other QBs named Joe–Namath and Montana–have won both an NCAA and Super Bowl championship.

Burrow is poised to become the third.

Namath’s Alabama team was the national champion in 1964; Montana’s Notre Dame squad took it all in 1977.

Joe Burrow led LSU to the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship, pocketing the Heisman along the way, something neither Namath nor Montana were able to engineer.

Joe Willie Namath, “Broadway Joe,” benefited immensely by hanging his hat in The Big Apple.

His NFL statistics and win-loss record were pedestrian, if not plebeian: he was 62–63–4; completed 50.1% of his passes good for 27,663 yards; and threw 173 TD passes accompanied by 220 interceptions.

His career QBR was 65.5.

But during his five AFL seasons, he was a two-time MVP, and twice led the league in passing yards while guiding the Jets to victory in one AFL Championship game and one Super Bowl.

Both victories remain the Jets’ only titles.

His legacy was cemented in 1969 when he brashly predicted–guaranteed–that his Jets, a heavy underdog, would defeat the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in one of the greatest sports upsets of all time.

They did.

The Super Bowl victory was the first for an AFL franchise, helping lend instant credibility to what was considered the junior–and inferior–circuit, and demonstrating that the AFL would enter the 1970 merger as equals.

Namath was the game’s MVP, and deservedly so.

He was the first quarterback to win both a college national championship and the Super Bowl.

Then there’s Joe Montana, the hero to a young Bay Area boy by the name of Tom Brady.

He was ‘Tommy,’ then.

Montana was “Joe Cool,” and “The Comeback Kid.”

He began his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played for the next fourteen seasons.

With the Niners, Montana started and won 4 Super Bowls and was the first player ever to be named Super Bowl MVP three times.

He holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception (122 in four games) and owns the all-time highest SB passer rating (127.8).

Among his career highlights, “The Catch,” — the game-winning touchdown pass against Dallas in the 1981 NFC Championship Game to the late, great Dwight Clark, along with the Super Bowl-winning 92 yard drive against these very Bengals (XXIII) — remain staples of the esteemed and renowned NFL Highlight Films.

As they should, forever standing the test of time.

Now there’s Burrow.

Joseph Lee Burrow, 25.

He’s one win away from joining his brothers Joe.

And he could be the first quarterback ever to win a national championship, Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl.

One QB who came agonizingly close to achieving this exalted trifecta was none other than Cam Newton.

Just sayin’.

Three non-quarterbacks who wrote their versions of this story in the history books were running backs Tony Dorsett (Pitt, Cowboys); and Marcus Allen (USC, Raiders); and defensive back Charles Woodson (Michigan, Packers).

Joe Burrow’s regular season career NFL statistics–2 years–look like this: 12–13–1; 68.2 completion pct; 7,299 passing yards; 47 TDs; 19 INT; 100.2 QBR.

In the playoffs–3 games–: 3–0; 68.8 completion pct; 842 passing yards; 4 TDs; 2 INT; 96.2 QBR.

Namath and Montana were not your average Joes.

Neither is Burrow.

Tune in and watch out.

Could very well happen.

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in February 2022.]