Power rankings is often a controversial list, especially when it rates players based on their performance in the last season and ranks them on that for the subsequent season. Recently, CBS released its power ranking list for quarterbacks for the 2024 season, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs led the list but it was deemed controversial because of the number at which Lamar Jackson was ranked.
The reigning NFL MVP was ranked sixth overall by CBS. Surprisingly, he was overtaken by the likes of C.J. Stroud, who had a remarkable season, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, although he missed out most of the 2023 season owing to injuries. A fan dialed-in to the Rich Eisen Show to express his displeasure over these rankings, moreover, he had an interesting analogy to make concerning Joe Burrow.
The fan who dialed-in under the name Arnett in Maryland pointed out the ridiculousness of this list.
It is blasphemous how Lamar Jackson has gotten treated. I thought the CBS rankings that came out, he’s sixth behind Stroud, Burrow, and Allen…he has a winning record against Josh Allen, winning record against Joe Burrow, he’s a two-time MVP, two-time first team All-Pro, those guys don’t have lick of that on their resume. Joe Burrow has one Linsanity run to the Super Bowl and they lost…
The fan pointed out
“Arnett in Maryland” called in to the @RichEisenShow to take issue with where CBS has Lamar Jackson in its recent QB power rankings & while doing so, referred to Joe Burrow’s 2022 Super Bowl quest as “one Linsanity run” 😂 pic.twitter.com/VQI6hTjBtT
— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltim0re) May 14, 2024
The fan was infuriated with the fact that Jackson was rated behind QBs he has outplayed and that despite Burrow having missed most of last season, he has managed to outrank the reigning MVP.
Joe Burrow will be under the most pressure to succeed in the 2024 season
Lamar Jackson has a 2-1 record in the regular season against Josh Allen and the Bills. He has a record of 8-2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, and has won two MVP awards. On paper, he is no doubt better than Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, especially because he brought more value to the Baltimore Ravens this last season than the other two QBs.
Lamar Jackson (via IMAGO)The fan compared Joe Burrow’s 2022 run to the Super Bowl when he beat Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs to make the big game to Jeremy Lin’s iconic Linsanity run. In 2012, Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks went on an iconic run scoring 136 points in his first five career starts for the team and led a hopeless team to a 10-3 run helping keep the team’s playoff hopes alive. The phenomenon went down as ‘Linsanity’ as a player who was looked down on, ended up shocking the world.
Unfortunately, Jeremy Lin was never the same again, his run was temporary and he never went back to playing at that level again. The fan, in this case, compared Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ 2022 run to Linsanity alluding to the fact that it was a one-time thing. Rich Eisen could not believe that this fan was comparing Burrow to Jeremy Lin.
I think it’s a little harsh but Burrow has done it, Burrow has beaten Mahomes in a playoff game, Burrow has made the Super Bowl…Lamar has never made it, Lamar hasn’t gotten past Mahomes in the playoffs…
Rich Eisen added
The reason Lamar Jackson is ranked behind Joe Burrow is that he tends to falter during the playoffs. In the regular season, he plays at an elite level and this year, he did the same winning his second MVP award. This was the year that the Baltimore Ravens had the best shot to go on and win the Super Bowl but Lamar Jackson could not get it done as he fell to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Burrow has come up clutch and gone past the Mahomes hurdle to a Super Bowl. This was probably the deciding factor which enabled CBS to rank him over Jackson.
