CINCINNATI — Chess and football share some similar themes, just ask Joe Burrow. He featured the game in his latest ad with BodyArmor, where he took on women's chess grandmaster Nemo Zhou in a session of the board game.
"Quick thinking, I think pattern recognition for sure," Burrow told Zhou about how Chess helps his football skills. "My position is almost all pattern recognition, right? Because I have to understand what defensive structure I'm looking at."
Burrow has elevated his game every year in the league, and chess could be another way he does just that across the next few months. Those closest to him are convinced he's even better as a passer after leading the NFL in passing touchdowns (43) and passing yards (4,918) last season.
"The anticipation, I think, is at an even higher level," Zac Taylor explained earlier this month. "And it's not even the anticipation, it's the spots on the anticipation, the types of throws, and just the voids in the field he sees, and he's always been excellent at that. I think it's really beneficial for him to get all these training camp reps that he's maybe at times missed in the past, and he feels like he's in a really good spot right now."
Check out the new ad below:
one of joe’s best ad to date for sure 😭 pic.twitter.com/mxy5sJim9k
— lily ❤️🔥🐅 (@swiftlycline) August 14, 2025
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