Trent Brown on comparisons of Joe Burrow to Tom Brady: “The Traits of a winner are there”

In an exclusive interview with The Orange and Black Insider, Bengals offensive lineman Trent Brown chatted about a number of topics, including “The Patriot Way” and the G.O.A.T., as compared to the Cincinnati’s signal-caller.

Sometimes a question can be both cringe-worthy, but also simultaneously insightful. This happens often on the national talking head shows, wherein the Question du Jour centers around topics like “Is (X player) elite?” and “Will the (fill-in-the-blank) make the postseason this year?”

But, perhaps one that rings the most true in this vein is the comparison question: “Is (X player) the next (Y player)?”.

Well, fortunately and unfortunately for you all, we asked such a cringe yet intriguing question to recent Orange and Black Insider guest Trent Brown. The big offensive lineman had the pleasure of playing with the great Tom Brady for one Championship season in 2018, as well as with Bengals superstar signal-caller Joe Burrow.

In response to a question that may have been an expected one, Brown had an extremely respectable retort.

“I think they’re both great in their own right and they deserve that respect to be individuals in that way,” Brown said. “I think there are some, just like I told you about ‘The Patriot Way,’ it’s working towards a common goal, guys not afraid to put the work in, not afraid to work hard. So, I think those individuals (Brady and Burrow) aren’t afraid to put the work in, work hard, and aren’t afraid to do whatever it takes to be great.”

Brady’s work ethic is the stuff of legend,s and we know about Burrow’s as well. The Bengals’ quarterback has just wrapped up his second NFL Comeback Player of the Year award, showing his own excellent work ethic in having huge seasons coming off of major, season-ending injuries from the year prior.

“So, I don’t really want to compare them—I’ll just say that the traits of a winner are there.”

While Burrow hasn’t had the same early-career championship-level success of Brady, he’s had tastes of greatness. Burrow led the Bengals to an improbable Super Bowl LVI appearance and a subsequent AFC Championship appearance the very next season.

Speaking of Brown mentioning “The Patriot Way,” that mantra is something that has always been an NFL enigma. It bears different definitions, depending on the current or former New England player, you ask, but there are similar themes.

As noted above, Brown echoed some of those similar sentiments we’ve heard before. Hard work is a centric theme, but Brown expanded upon that, too.

“I think it was a group of guys working towards the same goal, not afraid of hard work, not afraid to practice hard, and really just doing your job—that’s really it,” Brown said. “I think over the years, you could see that it wasn’t a roster full of the best players, but you had the best quarterback to ever play the game, and I think he (Brady) was able to do a lot with a little, at times in a lot of different positions as well.”

It’s a bit unclear as to who and where Brown was specifically pointing to on the roster, but one can make educated guesses. For how great Bill Belichick is/was, the Patriots’ draft record with high picks, particularly wide receivers, wasn’t great. And, as their team succeeded year after year, teams plucked various contributors off of New England’s roster, forcing them to fill voids year after year.

“It’s a lot of greatness from top-to-bottom…so I don’t think it’s anything special,” Brown continued. “It’s funny (Julian) Edelman made a post yesterday about the 2018-2019 Super Bowl—nobody would have ever thought we were going to win the Super Bowl, but how we all rallied together, especially how the season started, and as we got closer…everybody started to feel like ‘Wait, we can do this,’ you know what I mean?”

Brown also noted that going into that referenced Super Bowl LIII, Belichick told his team that they had a distinct advantage over the Rams in the game. They all felt that they were the most well-conditioned team, physically speaking, and that would allow them to outlast Los Angeles in the final game of a grueling season.

Our conversation also struck a personal note for Brown as he told us about his passion for being a rancher. The Brown Ranch is based just outside of Austin, Texas, with Trent serving as the figurehead of the operation.

When he’s not battling on the gridiron, Brown enjoys riding horses and living the ranch life. What has sprung from this passion is also high-quality meat cuts and packages produced from livestock raised on his ranch.

Brown has teamed with Ratcliff Premium Meats to provide fantastic packages that can be sent to you in time for the Super Bowl! Quality cuts of beef, chicken, and pork are available, with the Prime Rib Family Package being a premier choice for meat lovers.

This interview is also brought to you via our partnership with FOCO. The “Fans Only” company offers unique merchandise, and because of our channel’s partnership with them, exclusive products and promotions!

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Our thanks to Trent Brown for the opportunity to chat with him. Go order your meat packages from The Brown Ranch today!

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