Two outstanding quarterbacks will go head-to-head.
The stage is set for Super Bowl 56. It will be the Cincinnati Bengals versus the Los Angeles Rams. It was an exciting, unpredictable playoff season. The first-seeds were eliminated early, including the team I had going to the Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers.
But, now, the focus for me isn’t on the teams; it’s on the quarterbacks.
Matt Stafford (photo, LA Times)
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was born in Tampa, Florida, but he played high school ball at Highland Park High School in Texas. He went on to play college ball for the University of Georgia and then was drafted into the NFL by the Detroit Lions–a team that hasn’t had much success over the years.
While in Detroit, Stafford started every game for the Lions–165 in all–and completed 63% of his attempts for over 45,000 yards. With more losing seasons than winning ones, the Lions went to the playoffs only three times during Stafford’s tenure–losing all three games in the Wild Card round.
Things are different in Los Angeles. The Rams went 12-5 in Stafford’s first year, won the NFC West, and will now play for the NFL Championship in the cozy confines of its home stadium.
Dynamic Duo: Joe Burrow (left) and Ja’Marr Chase (photo, Yahoo! Sports)
Stafford will face another fine quarterback–one who finds himself in the Super Bowl in only his second year in the league. Like Stafford, Burrow was born in one place (Ames, Iowa in his case) but then played his high school ball in another place (The Plains, Ohio). But unlike Stafford, Burrow played college ball at two schools, first at Ohio State and, then, at LSU, where he won the Heiman Trophy and a national championship.
Burrow is the straw that stirs the drink for a team that–very much like the Detroit Lions–hasn’t had much success recently. Indeed, just two years ago, the Bengals sported the NFL’s worse record. Now they are in a position to go from worst to first.
So, on Super Bowl Sunday, we’ll be treated to two outstanding signal-callers–Matt Stafford and Joe Burrow. Kids all over the country will look at them, dreaming about suiting up to play in the Super Bowl, just as Tom Brady did for all those years.
Will it be a good game? I think it will.
