Unlike the usual slate, this week’s Thursday Night Football matchup does not disappoint. The Bengals and Ravens will face off in primetime where both squads are making a push for not only the AFC North crown but a Super Bowl appearance. Both teams are led by star quarterbacks who are in the midst of a storied rivalry in the making. And now, it’s as good a time as any to take a look at the Joe Burrow vs. Lamar Jackson debate by the numbers.
Regular Season Numbers
Both players are Heisman Trophy winners, but Jackson got a head start on his career since he was drafted two years ahead of Burrow. Jackson entered the league in 2018 and eventually won over the starting job in his rookie year. Once he did, he was nothing short of historic. He has thrown for 14,386 yards and rushed for 4,918 yards in his 80 games played. He’s also thrown for 111 touchdowns through the air and rushed for 29 more.
So, he averages 180 passing yards, 61 rushing yards and just under two scores per game (1.75). Meanwhile, Burrow is at 13,982 career passing yards and 598 rushing yards to go along with 96 touchdown passes and 10 rushing scores in 51 career games
Despite playing 29 fewer games, Burrow is right behind Jackson as a passer in terms of total yards. That being said, it doesn’t look like the two are particularly close in that regard. Burrow averages 274 passing yards a game but can’t compete with Jackson at all in the run game. But to be fair, no signal-caller can.
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An argument could be made for either party, depending on the skill set you’d prefer your quarterback to have on the field, but when it comes to wins as a potential tiebreaker, Jackson clearly gets the nod. The Baltimore quarterback has a 52–19 record while Burrow is barely above .500 at 29–21–1. The postseason, though, is an entirely different animal.
Postseason Success
Jackson has played in just four playoff games since entering the NFL and has only won one of them. Meanwhile, Burrow has played his best football in the winter, compiling a 5–2 record. Burrow has led Cincinnati to the playoffs two years in a row, having never lost his first game of a postseason.
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The Bengals made it to Super Bowl LVI in 2022 where they fell to the Rams. They also made a run to the AFC championship game last year against the eventual champion Chiefs. Under Jackson, however, the Ravens have never made it past the divisional round.
Jackson vs. Burrow Head-to-Head
The two have faced each other on four occasions during the regular season, and Jackson has the edge over his rival with a 3–1 record. But the two did face off once in the postseason, and Burrow came out on top during last year’s wild-card round.
From the numbers, both are completely different players but produce roughly the same amount of scoring for their teams — just doing so in different ways. But in terms of winning, it’s far less of a grey area. Jackson is overwhelmingly more successful in the regular season, but the postseason belongs to Burrow.
