Former LSU football superstar Joe Burrow believes playing in the SEC helped prepare him to dominate the NFL as the franchise quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals.
While Joe Burrow has his Cincinnati Bengals at 5-2 on the year, the former LSU football star credits playing in hostile SEC environments as a huge reason for his success professionally.
“Playing in the SEC definitely, definitely helped,” said Burrow to Pro Football Talk. “Gets way louder in the SEC than in any of these NFL stadiums.”
Among the places Burrow played in during his two-year run in the SEC West include Bryant-Denny Stadium, Jordan-Hare Stadium, Kyle Field and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Those four college football cathedrals can get deafening, just like Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge where Burrow became a legend.
The NFL has many great stadiums, but the SEC has the most raucous environments around.
Joe Burrow says the NFL cannot compare to a hostile SEC road environment
Though Burrow now plays in the NFL’s Black and Blue Division with rival teams in the Baltimore Ravens, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers, the SEC is just different. It is hard to explain to someone who has not seen an SEC game in person, but, it is different.
Loud is an understatement in cities like Auburn, Baton Rouge, College Station, Gainesville and Tuscaloosa where stadiums dwarf the NFL stadiums Burrow is playing in now.
All the while, Burrow has the Bengals not only in a position to make the AFC playoffs for the first time since 2015 but in a position to have home-field advantage in the AFC. It is still insanely early in the season, but the Bengals look to be no joke. It helps to have a transcendent playmaker at quarterback in Burrow, a signal-caller who had the greatest single season in college football ever.
No amount of crowd noise will ever get the best of Burrow now that he is in the NFL.
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