Joe Burrow says playing Patrick Mahomes 'brings out the best in me;' Bengals QB explains keys to facing Chiefs

Bengals star Joe Burrow has proven himself to be one of the NFL's best quarterbacks since entering the league, whenever he is healthy enough to play at his peak performance level. We've seen him play well enough to make the Pro Bowl, win Comeback Player of the Year, finish fourth in MVP voting and take his team to a Super Bowl .

We've also seen Burrow have success against the team that gives more opponents more problems than any other team in the NFL : the Kansas City Chiefs . After being asked by Kay Adams whether or not he sold his soul to get his 3-1 career record against Patrick Mahomes and Co., Burrow explained his keys to competing against the two-time defending Super Bowl champions.

"I think you gotta go out and not be scared to make mistakes," Burrow said about Mahomes during an appearance on the "Up & Adams" show . "You gotta go out and make plays because you know he's going to go out and make plays -- and that brings out the best in me. It's always an exciting challenge when we go against each other."

Because I am an enormous nerd, I had to go check the numbers to see if Mahomes indeed "brings out the best" in Burrow.

And the answer is those numbers are, unsurprisingly, mixed.

Burrow's 0.24 expected points added (EPA) per dropback average in games against the Chiefs is his 10th-best mark against any opponent, as is his 69.8% completion rate. His 6.0% touchdown rate is 12th best and his 107.0 passer rating is 11th best. He has gotten a tad lucky with a dropped interception rate of 40% against Kansas City, which is higher than the league average that usually hovers around 30-33%, but even adding one additional pick to his ledger in those games wouldn't change much about his overall performance. (The same is true of his receiver drop rate against the Chiefs, which is lower than usual but even if it regressed to average, would not result in a huge dip in his numbers.)

Burrow has also created explosive plays and converted third-down opportunities at a higher rate in his games against the Chiefs than his career average against other opponents. However, his throws have resulted in first downs less often than usual, perhaps owed to the fact that he has thrown considerably shorter passes against Kansas City (6.8 air yards per attempt) than against the rest of the league (7.5).

But with the exception of the air yards, those marks are all better than his career averages in those categories, and, of course, the Chiefs have traditionally had decent or better defenses and sport one of the game's best defensive coordinators in Steve Spagnuolo. So, even if Mahomes doesn't bring out THE BEST of Burrow, going against him at least brings out something close to his best. And when playing against the best of the best, that's really all you can ask for.