Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow isn't too interested in comparing himself to legendary quarterback Tom Brady even though he's playing him for the first time in his career.

Burrow, who has previously shared that he moved around a lot as a kid, grew up a college football fan more than an NFL fan.

As such, perhaps he wasn't as obsessed with Brady's early career as many others in football were. Little did Joey B know he'd grow up to be a quarterback that would draw comparisons to the eventual seven-time Super Bowl-winning QB.

The Bengals quarterback might not like the comparisons but they are inevitable. Even when asked if facing Brady meant anything to him, he gives an answer similar to the one the G.O.A.T. would offer.

"Just the next game, just the next game" Burrow told Colin Cowherd on The Volume with no hesitation in his voice.

The Bengals quarterback added an explanation to his answer, though. And what do you know… it also had a Brady-esque feel to it.

"If you get to like 'oh, I grew up watching this guy or I really liked him growing up' I think you lose your competitive advantage when you're out on the field," said Burrow. "I'm a fan of people that play the game really well (but) I think I can stack myself up against with just about any one of them."

Burrow has carried that attitude throughout his playing career. Since he was competing for a job at Ohio State, to an unforgettable Heisman season at LSU (and a National Championship), all the way to a Super Bowl run in his second year with the Bengals last February.

The numbers of the Bengals quarterback over his first three seasons as a starter compared to Brady's early days justify his claim about being up there with the best of them. Here's a quick look at some of them.

Joe Burrow and Tom Brady will play each other for the first time ever on Sunday.

Some cool numbers from each's first three seasons as NFL starters. pic.twitter.com/gx1tT6e8Kx

— Mauricio Rodríguez (@MauNFL) December 15, 2022

As someone who loves advanced stats and prefers them to volume numbers, I'd invite you to pay close attention to the "ANY/A+ (average) row" in the above table. Here's why. Bear with me:

Bengals' writer Paul Dehner from The Athletic has pointed out before how ANY/A+ (Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt Index) does a great job predicting success.

Since 2016, every Super Bowl quarterback has ranked in the Top 8 of this metric. In a few words, Inside The Pylon explains the stat behind the Index as follows: "ANY/A incorporates passing yardage, sacks, touchdowns, and interceptions and has a strong correlation with points scored."

What Pro Football Referencedoes with its index is it compares every QB's ANY/A to the league's average and assigns a value to each player. 100 is the average, which means anything higher is better than average and anything lower is below average.

As you can see, both Joe Burrow (108.3) and Tom Brady (104.6) had very positive numbers in each of their three seasons as starters.

The Bengals QB holds a unique advantage over Brady though. In each of the last two seasons (2021 and the ongoing 2022), he's graded at 115 (with four games left to be played in this one) or better while the former Patriot didn't surpass 110.

While the metric also accounts for the production of the entire offense, it's fun to figure out how much each quarterback has meant to his respective team. That's what makes Burrow a comparable player to Brady. It's not about the stats he's put up but the value he's provided to the Bengals.

And the fact that right now he's in a good spot to put together a second Super Bowl run for the second time in his three-year career (second full season) only helps drive the point home.

"He's Tom and I'm Joe," said the Bengals quarterback trying to send the message that he isn't interested in the comparisons. But while the younger version of Burrow didn't follow the NFL religiously back then, some of us did.

Can't blame anyone for seeing the similarities.

Featured image via Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK