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10 Things We Learned From Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ Series originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The second season of Netflix’s “Quarterback” clearly establishes themes that connect their three subjects — Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins. Peyton Manning, whose company Omaha Productions created the show, kicks it off by announcing “each of them play the hardest position in sports.”
The footage is curated to emphasize the challenges quarterbacks take. But there’s still a lot to learn from the footage we do see. Here are the top 10 things that stand out from Season 2...
The docuseries hammers home the point that Burrow had an all-time season and the rest of the Bengals couldn’t keep up. As early as Week 3, Burrow’s frustration was evident.
After losing 38-33 to the Commanders, Burrow turns to his backup Jake Browning and says, “Tough when you play damn near perfect and lose.”
Burrow appeared to hit a breaking point in a Week 15 win over the Titans. Burrow unloaded on head coach Zac Taylor: “We sucked today. That was embarrassing. We jumped offsides eight times.”
This clip seems to reveal another dynamic – Burrow comes off more intense than his head coach. Taylor is a peace-maker and tries to keep things positive. Based on the 2024 results, Taylor’s approach isn’t working. To have that kind of quarterback season and not make the playoffs is rare.
Burrow never hinted he was going to outgrow the Bengals. But like all great quarterbacks, losing seemed like torture to him. Something has to change in Cincinnati.
Cousins signed with the Falcons last offseason and said he didn’t know they were going to take quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in the first round.
“At the time, it felt like I had been a little bit misled,” Cousins said. “I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there if both teams were drafting a quarterback high.”
Cousins is publicly one of the milder athletes we have. If he’s going to call out the team, he is truly upset. You can sense he missed everything about Minnesota, including receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
Then again, he did sign a four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta. Even when he was a backup at the end of the season, he went home to a pretty nice house.
The primary Goff narrative is that he faced adversity for the first time when he was traded to Detroit in 2021 and grew as a player. Despite his success in Detroit, Goff hasn’t gotten over the Rams’ decision to give up on him.
“You wish that it wasn’t such a blindside,” Goff said. “You wish that there was some sort of maturity to have that conversation and let me know what’s going on and why this is happening.”
In contrast, Lions GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell said they really wanted Goff, which wasn’t how the trade was described at the time. At one point during a post-game celebration, Campbell says to Goff, “you’re good enough for bleep-ing Detroit.”
So much for the NFL injury report. The docuseries shows how Cousins’ arm got bent the wrong way Week 10. Cousins was listed as limited for just one practice. But the public didn’t really know the extent of the elbow and shoulder injury until after the season. It’s easy to forget the Falcons were 6-3 and Cousins had 17 TDs and 7 INTs through Week 10. He ended up 7-7 with 18 TDs and 16 INTs.
Cousins should have sat but he was afraid of losing his job. “If you sit down Week 10,” Cousins said, “and take two or three weeks or more to let it heal, you may never get your job back.” He cited Drew Brees, who never wanted to let his backup see the field.
We got to see Burrow working with his stylist Kyle Smith, who praised Joe for taking risks but still saying no. Apparently, cowboy belt-buckles and brightly colored scarves are too much.
The best part might have been when he showed up to a post-game celebration with his hometown friends wearing a Bottega leather jacket and no shirt. It didn’t go over with his high school buddies.
Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Christen Harper Goff said she’s been helping Jared memorize plays for years, but it’s all a mystery. “There’s a million words,” she said, “and I’ve been reading them for three years and I still don’t know what they mean or what it has to do with anything. It’s just a lot of ‘gun’ .... ‘gun rights.’”
Jared, laughing, explained to Christen that “gun rights” was a directional reference and nothing to do with the Second Amendment.
When offensive coordinator Ben Johnson dials up one of his famous trick plays, Christen is really in trouble. But her fandom and positive energy is admirable throughout the show.
They always show the quarterbacks hugging after the game and saying nice things to each other. Cousins has turned praising the other guy into an art form. After the Falcons beat the Bucs in a shootout, Cousins takes Baker Mayfield hostage at midfield to compliment him. Mayfield looks like he’s searching for an excuse to get away from Cousins even though he’s telling him he’s destined for the Hall of Fame.
Later, when Cousins goes back to Minnesota, he tells everyone from his old coach to the building workers how much they mean to him. Hard to miss how much closer Cousins was with everyone on the Vikings than with his current teammates.
Burrow and receiver Ja’Marr Chase’s friendship is well established going back to LSU. They have a shorthand and their chemistry is as good as any QB-WR in the league. The docuseries also reveals how much Tee Higgins is a part of the day-to-day meaningless conversations. Higgins, who at one point is seen going into a club dressed as Batman, is low-key the funniest one of the group.
Goff is tied to the hip with Amon-Ra St. Brown on and off the field. He also seems to have a good relationship with tight end Sam LaPorta – but LaPorta was never mic’ed up.
Cousins, however, didn’t seem close with the Falcons receivers. That’s because he doesn’t know them yet. But when he saw Jefferson in Minnesota it was like he’d found a long-lost family member.
Cousins celebrates the entire spectrum of music and the producers celebrate his goofiness. He jumped in with the crowd on “Swag Surfin’” by Fast Life Yungstaz to celebrate wins. He said he believed the Tom Petty song “Don’t Back Down” fueled a comeback victory over the Eagles. He made “Take Over Your Trap” by 2Chainz the team’s temporary theme song. He belted Cher’s “Believe” with his friends in the car. He expressed admiration for Celine Dion and the movie “Sing 2.” He almost broke down because he couldn’t go to a nearby Creed concert.
The opening scene features Burrow halfheartedly trying to learn to play the piano. He said there are a lot of hours to kill. He still plays video games with his friends from home every Monday night. Burrow later buys a version of the Batmobile from Warner Bros. to try to entertain himself.
Meanwhile, when the Lions earned a bye week during the playoffs, Goff had no idea how to fill the extra time. He said he got bored of video games and he fell asleep during the Timothee Chalamet movie about Bob Dylan. Didn’t really hear much about Goff’s reading list. Don’t worry, we also learn Goff’s wife is pregnant, so he’ll have parenting duties to distract himself soon enough.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Continue reading...
The second season of Netflix’s “Quarterback” clearly establishes themes that connect their three subjects — Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins. Peyton Manning, whose company Omaha Productions created the show, kicks it off by announcing “each of them play the hardest position in sports.”
The footage is curated to emphasize the challenges quarterbacks take. But there’s still a lot to learn from the footage we do see. Here are the top 10 things that stand out from Season 2...
1. Joe Burrow faces an uphill battle in Cincinnati
The docuseries hammers home the point that Burrow had an all-time season and the rest of the Bengals couldn’t keep up. As early as Week 3, Burrow’s frustration was evident.
After losing 38-33 to the Commanders, Burrow turns to his backup Jake Browning and says, “Tough when you play damn near perfect and lose.”
Burrow appeared to hit a breaking point in a Week 15 win over the Titans. Burrow unloaded on head coach Zac Taylor: “We sucked today. That was embarrassing. We jumped offsides eight times.”
This clip seems to reveal another dynamic – Burrow comes off more intense than his head coach. Taylor is a peace-maker and tries to keep things positive. Based on the 2024 results, Taylor’s approach isn’t working. To have that kind of quarterback season and not make the playoffs is rare.
Burrow never hinted he was going to outgrow the Bengals. But like all great quarterbacks, losing seemed like torture to him. Something has to change in Cincinnati.
2. Kirk Cousins didn’t know Atlanta was drafting a QB
Cousins signed with the Falcons last offseason and said he didn’t know they were going to take quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in the first round.
“At the time, it felt like I had been a little bit misled,” Cousins said. “I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there if both teams were drafting a quarterback high.”
Cousins is publicly one of the milder athletes we have. If he’s going to call out the team, he is truly upset. You can sense he missed everything about Minnesota, including receivers Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
Then again, he did sign a four-year, $180 million contract with Atlanta. Even when he was a backup at the end of the season, he went home to a pretty nice house.
3. Jared Goff is still upset with the Rams
The primary Goff narrative is that he faced adversity for the first time when he was traded to Detroit in 2021 and grew as a player. Despite his success in Detroit, Goff hasn’t gotten over the Rams’ decision to give up on him.
“You wish that it wasn’t such a blindside,” Goff said. “You wish that there was some sort of maturity to have that conversation and let me know what’s going on and why this is happening.”
In contrast, Lions GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell said they really wanted Goff, which wasn’t how the trade was described at the time. At one point during a post-game celebration, Campbell says to Goff, “you’re good enough for bleep-ing Detroit.”
4. Cousins was really hurt
So much for the NFL injury report. The docuseries shows how Cousins’ arm got bent the wrong way Week 10. Cousins was listed as limited for just one practice. But the public didn’t really know the extent of the elbow and shoulder injury until after the season. It’s easy to forget the Falcons were 6-3 and Cousins had 17 TDs and 7 INTs through Week 10. He ended up 7-7 with 18 TDs and 16 INTs.
Cousins should have sat but he was afraid of losing his job. “If you sit down Week 10,” Cousins said, “and take two or three weeks or more to let it heal, you may never get your job back.” He cited Drew Brees, who never wanted to let his backup see the field.
5. Burrow’s fashion process
We got to see Burrow working with his stylist Kyle Smith, who praised Joe for taking risks but still saying no. Apparently, cowboy belt-buckles and brightly colored scarves are too much.
The best part might have been when he showed up to a post-game celebration with his hometown friends wearing a Bottega leather jacket and no shirt. It didn’t go over with his high school buddies.
6. Goff’s wife can’t understand the Lions’ offense
Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Christen Harper Goff said she’s been helping Jared memorize plays for years, but it’s all a mystery. “There’s a million words,” she said, “and I’ve been reading them for three years and I still don’t know what they mean or what it has to do with anything. It’s just a lot of ‘gun’ .... ‘gun rights.’”
Jared, laughing, explained to Christen that “gun rights” was a directional reference and nothing to do with the Second Amendment.
When offensive coordinator Ben Johnson dials up one of his famous trick plays, Christen is really in trouble. But her fandom and positive energy is admirable throughout the show.
7. Cousins wants to run for Mayor of the NFL
They always show the quarterbacks hugging after the game and saying nice things to each other. Cousins has turned praising the other guy into an art form. After the Falcons beat the Bucs in a shootout, Cousins takes Baker Mayfield hostage at midfield to compliment him. Mayfield looks like he’s searching for an excuse to get away from Cousins even though he’s telling him he’s destined for the Hall of Fame.
Later, when Cousins goes back to Minnesota, he tells everyone from his old coach to the building workers how much they mean to him. Hard to miss how much closer Cousins was with everyone on the Vikings than with his current teammates.
8. QBs like wide receivers
Burrow and receiver Ja’Marr Chase’s friendship is well established going back to LSU. They have a shorthand and their chemistry is as good as any QB-WR in the league. The docuseries also reveals how much Tee Higgins is a part of the day-to-day meaningless conversations. Higgins, who at one point is seen going into a club dressed as Batman, is low-key the funniest one of the group.
Goff is tied to the hip with Amon-Ra St. Brown on and off the field. He also seems to have a good relationship with tight end Sam LaPorta – but LaPorta was never mic’ed up.
Cousins, however, didn’t seem close with the Falcons receivers. That’s because he doesn’t know them yet. But when he saw Jefferson in Minnesota it was like he’d found a long-lost family member.
9. Cousins has the music in him
Cousins celebrates the entire spectrum of music and the producers celebrate his goofiness. He jumped in with the crowd on “Swag Surfin’” by Fast Life Yungstaz to celebrate wins. He said he believed the Tom Petty song “Don’t Back Down” fueled a comeback victory over the Eagles. He made “Take Over Your Trap” by 2Chainz the team’s temporary theme song. He belted Cher’s “Believe” with his friends in the car. He expressed admiration for Celine Dion and the movie “Sing 2.” He almost broke down because he couldn’t go to a nearby Creed concert.
10. Burrow and Goff are kind of bored
The opening scene features Burrow halfheartedly trying to learn to play the piano. He said there are a lot of hours to kill. He still plays video games with his friends from home every Monday night. Burrow later buys a version of the Batmobile from Warner Bros. to try to entertain himself.
Meanwhile, when the Lions earned a bye week during the playoffs, Goff had no idea how to fill the extra time. He said he got bored of video games and he fell asleep during the Timothee Chalamet movie about Bob Dylan. Didn’t really hear much about Goff’s reading list. Don’t worry, we also learn Goff’s wife is pregnant, so he’ll have parenting duties to distract himself soon enough.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Continue reading...