The quarterback guru who helped fine-tune Joe Burrow's game heading into the NFL wasn't surprised that the No. 1 pick looked solid in his debut Sunday for the Cincinnati Bengals.
No preseason games? No big problem for Burrow.
"The two things about Joe are confidence and maturity," said quarterbacks coach Jordan Palmer, who worked extensively with the Heisman Trophy winner for four months before the draft. "That's where my eye goes when I'm evaluating these young guys. And maturity is not tucking your shirt in and saying, 'Yes, sir,' and being on time. Maturity is being in a situation you've never been in before, and whether you're dwelling on other people's experiences, or just belief in yourself, you end up handling that new situation as if it's not the first time."
The Chargers won, 16-13, but Burrow hardly looked like a guy playing in his first NFL game. He checked into a keeper at the line of scrimmage and tore through a top-shelf defense for a 23-yard scoring run, Cincinnati's only touchdown, and nearly led his team to victory in the fourth quarter.
In the final three minutes, with no timeouts, Burrow drove the Bengals from their 18 to the visitor's three before throwing the apparent winning touchdown pass to A.J. Green. That was nullified by offensive pass interference, and on the next play, Randy Bullock missed a 31-yard field goal that would have forced overtime.
The performance wasn't a masterpiece. Burrow had an errant shovel pass that was picked off, overthrew John Ross on a would-be touchdown, and harshly gave himself a "D" for his debut. But he gave Bengals fans reason for hope.
Burrow looked so at ease, Palmer said, "that if he was wearing No. 14, you would have thought Andy Dalton was playing."
Coincidentally, the previous quarterback selected No. 1 by the Bengals was Carson Palmer _ Jordan's older brother _ who won the Heisman at USC in 2002.
They are completely different quarterbacks. The 6-foot-5 Palmer was so prototypical, it was as if scientists created him in a lab, and had an arm strong enough to fire passes through drywall. Burrow, an inch shorter, has a more mortal skill set but is cool under fire, supremely confident, and put up otherworldly numbers at Louisiana State last season _ 60 passing touchdowns, breaking the single-season FBS record, and 5,671 yards.
Jordan Palmer, who played quarterback at Texas-El Paso, is now the go-to quarterback whisperer, having prepared some of the best transitioning college talent _ from Patrick Mahomes and Sam Darnold to Deshaun Watson and Josh Allen.
From January to April _ with training sessions disrupted by the COVID pandemic _ Burrow lived in a beach house in Dana Point, California, and trained daily with Palmer.
"I'm not surprised at all with the way Joe played (Sunday) because of the belief that he has in himself," Palmer said. "If he tells himself that the speed of the game isn't any different, then he's not going to feel it as any different. He just has such control over his thoughts and his actions and his reads.
"People make a big deal of him being a captain as a rookie. That was absolutely inevitable. He's the best leader they have on that team, and I don't care who's on that team. ... He's going to have a fantastic NFL career."
