Chiefs' Steve Spagnuolo on Bengals' Joe Burrow: 'I see a young Tom Brady'

Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Don "Wink" Martindale may have provided some unnecessary bulletin-board material for the Cincinnati Bengals ahead of Week 16 when he said that "I don't think we're ready to buy a gold jacket" for Cincinnati second-year quarterback Joe Burrow. As Ben Baby noted for ESPN, Burrow responded to that comment by setting a franchise record with 525 passing yards and tossing four touchdowns in a dominant 41-21 victory over Baltimore. 

The Bengals host the Kansas City Chiefs on the first Sunday of 2022, and Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo went in a different direction while speaking with reporters about Burrow on Thursday. 

"I see a young Tom Brady," Spagnuolo said of Burrow, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. 

An irony here is that Brady is a seven-time champion who famously looks for any motivation ahead of games and who guided his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl LV win over the Chiefs in February. One wonders if Spagnuolo will ultimately regret this comment if he has to prepare to face Brady in a rematch this coming February. 

Just to be safe, coaches and assistants may want to stick to comparing Burrow only to talented yet retired quarterbacks until further notice.