Joe Burrow, an ardent football globalist, is quite parochial when it comes to growing his own game.

But then, that's the beauty of Burrow, the Bengals quarterback whose mystique is as prolific as his numbers. He keeps you guessing on and off the field.

The man who dreams of playing in the Olympics returns every offseason to the trainer he had as a boy. Burrow, so intensely and famously private, agreed to be exposed on this year's Netflix series Quarterback. The man who has the best completion percentage in the history of the NFL spent his offseason trying to become more elusive. Burrow, a reluctant celebrity, appeared at the world's biggest pop gathering at the Met Gala two weeks ago.

But the bottom line is that line with the bold 68.6 completion percentage. During Tuesday's first media availability of the season, Burrow has returned to Paycor Stadium as fiercely as ever. One of the game's greats is trying to get better and take his team with him.

"If I had played even better, we wouldn't have been in that spot that we were in," said Burrow, coming off one of the best seasons any quarterback ever had. "I just focus on getting better myself, and I feel like everyone in the locker room feels the same way. If I go out there and play better than I did last year, then it doesn't matter what goes on anywhere else."

Burrow, more than a year removed from wrist surgery, pronounced himself feeling better than he ever has in an offseason. No surprise to Dak Notestine, Jimmy Burrow's old defensive lineman at Ohio University who has trained Joe Burrow from proms to Pro Bowls.

Within a week after the Bengals finished the season in Pittsburgh beating the Steelers with Burrow's NFL-leading 43rd touchdown pass, Notestine got the text.

"Are you ready to roll? Let's go."

"Some people might be happy with that season," Notestine says. "He still thinks there is more than one level he can improve upon. And he's trying to work on it day-by- day right now."

After the last offseason they painstakingly beefed up Burrow to 215 pounds, Notestine is pleased how his reconfigured diet and work in the weight room helped him keep that much weight for an entire season for the first time in his career.

"This offseason was a little easier on me," Notestine says, "because there's been less we had to build him up from."

Maybe a little easier, but still busy. Before Burrow returned to Paycor, he and Notestine, the director of performance at Black Sheep Performance in suburban Cincinnati, worked from the ground up with his feet. They spent a little more time this year watching some of his more improbable throws.

"He always wants to be as efficient of a mover as he possibly can. Trying to maximize each and every step and get the most out of those reactive steps," Notestine says. "To put himself in a position to deliver the ball on time or with a little more pop. Both off predictive movement and unpredictive movement."

It is from sessions like these where the Face-Plant Touchdown Throw against Cleveland last year is born. The one where he hit wide receiver Tee Higgins just before his chinstrap hit the Paycor turf. And, yes, Burrow goes back and watches anything he can.

"This offseason, what we've done so far is do a little more mimicry of positions he'll find himself in during a game and things he thinks could be tuned up," Notestine says. "He's trying to put himself in athletic positions so he can be the athlete that he is. Sometimes, even though he's had some amazing plays and clearly shown the ability to escape, people see him more as a thrower. Not that he wants to change his game at all, but I just think he likes the athleticism of being able to make guys miss."

So there is Notestine chasing him around like the old days at Athens as Burrow works on his YAC. But not at the expense of YPA.

"He likes to be elusive, but it obviously has to transition to him getting the ball out and being a quarterback," Notestine says. "Just trying to be a little more explosive, a little more efficient with his steps. A little more velo with not as much effort."

But then, with Burrow, there's a reason for everything. Take The Met.

"I would say the media all around the event is a little exhausting, but once you're actually there, it's just very private, and that's hard for me to come by these days," Burrow said. "So the more opportunities that I can try to have a normal dinner party, a normal dinner … just around good people, the more opportunities I'm going to take."

A reason for everything.

You can rest assure that his privacy won't be attacked in Quarterback. If Peyton Manning hadn't been involved in the show, he says, he probably wouldn't have done it.

"He's going to protect me, protect our team, protect our organization," Burrow said. "I have trust in him for saying that and trust that he's going to do that."

More bottom line. Despite all the lights-camera-action hoopla surrounding the July drop, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor hopes the series shows what makes guys like Burrow great. You have to be around him every day, Taylor says.

Like backup quarterback Jake Browning. He agrees with Taylor on what makes Burrow Burrow. You can even see it, Browning says, during these days of installation and technique where the offense only sees the defense in team meetings.

"Process," Browning says. "The number of times he goes to the right person on time and accurately. He processes so quickly. Before and during the play. He has an above-average arm, but I wouldn't say it's crazy. He's an above-average athlete, but not crazy. He's really accurate. But the thing he does is process really fast. And to me, that's the toughest thing to evaluate in a quarterback coming out of college."

One of the newest Bengals, vet guard Lucas Patrick, has played with all sorts of NFL quarterbacks. Last year in New Orleans, it was journeyman Derek Carr in the season before he retired, as well as rookie Spencer Rattler losing his first six pro starts. And then there was a guy in Green Bay.

"I was there when Aaron Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs," Patrick says. "It would be cool to watch another MVP again."

He'll have to watch Quarterback first.

"Do I get a cameo in Quarterback?" Browning asks Burrow, clearly joking.

That seems to be a mystery, as many things are with Burrow, making him one of the most interesting people in sports. But there's no mystery here. Burrow is back as serious as ever.

"Little nuances where he gives guys adjustments," says Patrick, seeing it all for the first time. "We were installing something one day. And he went into detail exactly what he wanted and what he's seeing and how that affects the front. It's pretty impressive."