A shattered knee, mental health and the Tom Brady estate: Joe Burrow defies history in the Super Bowl

On November 22, 2020,

's (Iowa, 1996) left knee

.

He had been champion and

the previous season,

in the NFL draft that same year, the

so far in the course... And in the third quarter of the duel between

, his team , and

everything changed.

The rival defense jumped on him and, despite the fact that he managed to launch a pass, he was tackled by several opponents with such bad luck that one of them, who had collided with a teammate, ended up impacting with all his weight on his knee.

as his trainer looked down at the desolate ground, he could already imagine the outcome of all this.

He shook his head as he left the stadium on a stretcher, always with the helmet between his legs, and hours later he discovered that he had torn the

, the

, part of the

and part of the

.

Basically, a hurricane had passed through his left knee.

A career-changing injury.

15 months of pain and the shadow of Brady

In a stroke of fate and after having overcome a physical and psychological recovery torment, Burrow, 15 months after almost saying goodbye to everything the NFL could have promised him, will play his

.

He will do it in his second season in the league and with a team, the

, who three years ago could only win

games in the regular league.

It will be the third visit to the finals in the history of a franchise that lost the previous two, in 1982 and 1989. In both,

was opposite with the

, one of the best players in history.

One that Joe Burrow wants to look like, also seen by many experts as

, the legend who a few days ago announced his definitive retirement at the age of 44.

"He is different from the rest.

, something more robotic, similar to Brady," explains Rubén Ibeas, commentator for Movistar +.

The recovery and success of Burrow, who is also beginning to be a

, cannot be understood without taking a look at his

and without going into the

, something crucial during his last years: "I have spent it

bad during this time. It's a

. I didn't expect it, but it has influenced me a lot," he explained last August.

a high school and college football coach, little Joe's childhood was spent between moves:

(Iowa),

(Nebraska),

(North Dakota),

(Ohio)...

So much movement gave him little time and opportunities to make real friends, so his circle was the

field and his 'home' ended up being the last destination: Ohio.

"

I'm here for them," he assured when he picked up the

for best college player after winning the NCAA with Louisiana State University (LSU).

There he had arrived after leaving Ohio State, where he did not play and

.

Nothing is further from reality: he reinvented himself.

Eight years without losing in the Playoffs

The quarterback who

and didn't seem to have the hands to be one may become the first player at that position to win the college championship, the Heisman trophy and the Super Bowl.

Almost nothing.

"

," he jokingly replied, when NFL prep camps began to criticize the small size of his hands.

"

. I wanted to have the ball. But hey, luckily, it worked," he explained in an interview during his college days.

Counting high school, college and the NFL, Burrow has

.

His last loss came in

, when his high school team in Athens, the Bulldogs, lost the finals of the Ohio State tournament.

After that, and whenever he has played, everything has been victories.

He was undefeated (5-0) during the

and this year, in his first NFL Playoff appearance, has led the Bengals to their

, at the first victory as a visitor in the Playoffs in its history and to the first Conference championship in 34 years.

The latter, against the

, the other young quarterback called to inherit the glory of

.

Now they will face the

in a Super Bowl 'away' at

in Inglewood (California).

"You have to roll up your sleeves," he said this weekend.

on Movistar +.

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