But Burrow is no Lone Eagle crossing the Atlantic.
The Bengals have won three straight, scoring an NFL-best 36.3 points per game and are second-highest overall as they eye a franchise-record at 29.4 points per game. And they’re clicking on third down like no team in the last 15 years. At 52.9%, it’s the best third-down percentage since the 2011 Saints.
And the world wants to know how.
“I think, number one, we have great players, players that want to be great. We work really hard at it,” Burow said. “We have coaches who want to put us in the best position to go and do what we do and utilize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses. We’ve been playing together for a long time now, so we know how to play off of each other and complement each other well.”
Or, “Our offensive line is protecting great. I think this is the best that group has played since I’ve been here, which is really exciting to see. And a lot of our young players are getting better and better. We have the right guys who attack every day with the intent to be better than the day before, and I think that is so valuable in this sport.”
But it’s Burrow they have come to see and study. Pablo Escudero, who anchors the NFL highlights show with Carasco, figures about 10% of Sunday’s 83,000 packed into Bernabeau are watching a football game for the first time.
“About 90-95 percent at the stadium would have seen a game on TV or in person,” Escudero says. “They’ve seen football. There are professional leagues in Germany, France and Spain. So they’ve seen football. But not at this level.”
But Burrow’s name is Varney’s massive enough that French media asked Burrow if he had any surprises that his fans might not know. And, like a good ambassador, he played along. Complete with an actor’s timing.
“As far as a surprise, I’m full of surprises. I certainly don’t share all of them, but let me think of one that I’ll share with you guys. Hmmm,” Burrow thought, knowing the European press wouldn’t know things the Bengals beat does. “Play a little piano, build Legos. I play chess. I like art. Like music. I certainly like more things than just football.”
Art it was on Wednesday. He didn’t do any sightseeing on Thursday (“Tried to treat that like a Thursday work day”), but on Wednesday, the day they arrived on their off-day, Burrow visited the “Museo del Prado.”
“I ran into some students studying abroad from the United States the other day when I was walking around, and that was certainly surprising,” Burrow said. “It’s often a little more than I expect when I’m in a different country. I usually expect to go pretty incognito and not have anybody recognize me. It’s a little more than that, but I love being out here because I can feel like a normal person for a little bit.”
But it looks like even that strand of anonymity is being blown away bit by bit.
“You’re always going to be competing against those (soccer) stars,” says Will Varney. “But Joe Burrow, I think is, on that trend rising to not only be the top name in the NFL for who he is. They’ve got to win something for him to grab extra headlines around Europe. Right now, he’s on that track of notability. A hundred percent. I think he can be one of the big names in sport.”
Ambassador Burrow took the little tiger, signed the man’s paper and said, “Thank your son for me,” as he walked down the aisle to take on the world.
Source: www.bengals.com
