Brady-v-Joe? No.

In the Potential Bowl, it's more like Joe-v-Joe

It’s a ridiculous comparison, but in sports we like ridiculous comparisons. This week, we should not have been comparing Joe Burrow to Tom Brady. There is no comparison, other than intangibly. And really, almost all the great QBs have had at least some of the swagger owned by Burrow and Brady.

What we should have been claiming is, “this is who Tom Brady was, and is. This is who Joe Burrow could be.’’ Even that strains cred, but at least it affords Brady the respect he deserves while keeping Burrow’s potential within reason.

There will not be another Brady. Not unless you believe some other QB will make 15 Pro Bowls and win seven rings, including his last at age 43. Unless you think that same QB will be coached by the likes of Bill Belichick, arguably the best who ever was.

It’s a team game, so Burrow’s team will beat Brady’s on Sunday. The Bengals have better players who are better coached. The Bucs can’t run the ball. Five — count -’em — quarterbacks have rushed for more yards than Tampa’s leading ball carrier, Leonard Fournette. The Buccaneers haven’t scored more than 22 points in a game in their last nine games.

Brady’s line isn’t great, he barely moves and he has bounced enough balls in front of receivers this season to suggest he’s interested in self preservation and thus highly skilled at hearing footsteps.

He’s 31st in the league in yards per attempt and yards per completion, ahead of only Kyler Murray and Kenny Pickett. He’s 28th in TD percentage. If the Bengals heat him up and keep the ball in front of them, this game is a walkover.

If only we could have seen Brady-v-Burrow when each was in his prime.

We’re not getting that. Brady still has a few rabbits in his helmet. See: Bucs breathless comeback v. Saints a couple weeks ago. But just as often, Brady is who he was last week in SF. Brady threw 55 passes. The Bucs lost 35-7. It was over by halftime.

Burrow is doing with this hype what Burrow should do. He’s hearing the comparisons but not listening to them. His early college career taught him not to trust success or rest on it. He isn’t Brady. Chances are, he never will be. But he can learn from him.

A few years ago, I did a book with Nate Ebner. Nate’s not well known, but his story should be. The essence: Grew up in Springfield, OH, the son of a junkyard owner. His father taught him the power of determination. Nate didn’t play high school football, because he was among the best young rugby players in the country. While his friends were hangin’ out on the weekends, Nate was playing rugby in Europe with the US junior national team.

Nevertheless, he walked on at OSU, earned a scholarship as a special-team star (unheard of) and was a captain his senior year. The Patriots drafted him in the 6th round (also unheard of) and he won three rings playing for Belichick.

Meanwhile, while playing football for the Pats, Nate took a sabbatical in the spring of 2016 and made the US Olympic Rugby Team, even as he hadn’t played competitive rugby for five years. Unheard of. This is one unique cat.

(Find the book, Finish Strong, on Amazon. Shameless plug complete.)

Nate said this, about playing with Brady and for Belichick:

“The amazing thing about Tom is not the results he has gotten, but the work he has put in to get those results.’’

And. . .

'“You don’t build a dynasty like the Pats have without finding like-minded people who see what you see and want what you want.’’

Sound like Burrow and the group of people Zac Taylor has collected?

Tom Brady isn’t who he was physically. He’s just been divorced, he could be getting class-action sued for his role in promoting FTX cryptocurrency. He seems to have coaches who aren’t adept at matching what he still does well with the game plans they give him.

Last year, Brady was 2nd in MVP voting, a year after winning his 7th Bowl. This year, he’s touring independent living facilities. Hint: It ain’t all on him.

Brady-v-Burrow is not the comparison we should seek. Burrow-v-Burrow is. How much better could Saint Joe become? The GOAT has given him a road map.

Now, then. . .

THE PICK WHICH, IF YOU LIKE MONEY, YOU’LL IGNORE. . .

I don’t think the Bucs would beat The Men, even in perfect health. As it is, they’re busted up. Joseph Ossai gets his name called a lot as Hendrickson’s fill-in. Youse people bitch a lot about Tony Romo.

Men 27

Bucs 17

MADEIRA BOY MAKES GOOD. . . Outfielder Andrew Benintendi and the Chicago White Sox agreed on a five-year, $75 million contract Friday, sources told ESPN, linking one of the game's premier bat-to-ball hitters with a team whose contact-oriented approach is one of its offensive hallmarks.

Benintendi, 28, hit .304/.373/.399 this year in his time with the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees. (AP)

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. I promise that one day, I will stop beating this subject with my proverbial Wiffleball bat. But for now, it’s too important to ignore. From Jayson Stark, my favorite baseball scribe, after the winter meetings:

It was also a week that shook commissioner Rob Manfred’s house just nine months after the end of a labor dispute so tense and contentious that it came way closer than you might think to shutting down the sport for many more months. So how did baseball go from impending fiscal disaster to this in less than a year?

“We’re living in a silly-season world,” one longtime executive said. “I can’t believe we almost lost a season because of all the teams whining about the same old stuff — and now here we are, back to the same insanity. It’s irrational people operating in an illogical market.”

STICK TO SPORTS. . . I’ve all but stopped ripping Trump in This Space, mostly because the Bad Human Being I saw six years ago is the Bad Human Being most everyone sees now. Serves no useful purpose, very much like the man himself. But also because, well, ripping the guy is just too easy. That said. . .

Anyone shelling out $99 for his virtual trading card? You can’t tape it to the spokes of your bike, you can’t flip it against a wall. You can’t lovingly slide it into an album next to your Junior Griffey rookie card. It doesn’t come with gum. So. . . what?

Also, anyone else notice how every person who has ever become part of Trump’s inner circle has had his/her life diminished in some way? Business to politics, up and down, through and through.

Rudy and Cohen and Weisselberg, Manafort, Flynn and Stone. Yay for West! How’s his bottom line lookin’ now?

Among Republicans, only the fringe-ites have any use for him. Most of his former backers treat him like he just bathed in a pool of Chernobyl.

What took ‘em so long?

TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . From the One-Hit Wonder File, a group I wanted to hear more from.