Quote:Dan Pitcher, the Cincinnati Bengals new offensive coordinator/old QB coach, was a hot commodity the past couple of offseasons, interviewing for multiple OC jobs.

And that’s for good reason.

“Dan knows what the heck he’s doing,” said receiver Trenton Irwin.

Head coach Zac Taylor agrees. That’s why he’s decided to hand over more of the offense to his offensive coordinator this year.

“I’ll take a step back this spring,” Taylor said, “And let [Pitcher] take ownership in the direction of the offense.”

As Cincinnati.com’s Charlie Goldsmith writes, tight end Drew Sample said it was “awesome” that Pitcher is taking more of a leadership role and that the offensive coordinator has “added new wrinkles.”
So what specifically does that mean? Here’s what Goldsmith has observed so far in camp:

The Bengals’ playbook has changed more this offseason than it has in any offseason since Burrow’s rookie year. In 2024, the Bengals are interested in lining up more under center, using the play action passing game more, and marrying their run game, their screens and their drop back passing game more than they have over the last few years.

That’s good news for a team that has seen its star quarterback, Joe Burrow, take more than his share of hits

(05-23-2024, 03:57 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: and allow Dan Pitcher full ownership in determining direction of the offense.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/zac-taylor-says-he-ll-take-a-step-back-and-allow-dan-pitcher-to-take-ownership-in-the-direction-of-the-offense/ar-BB1mVFS4?ocid=BingNewsSerp

(05-23-2024, 04:04 PM)PCB Bengal Fan Wrote: I'll believe it when I see it......more under center that is.

(05-23-2024, 04:13 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: The Bengals have ran plenty of under center looks since Zac Taylor has been here. The offense has been flexible, largely due to either injury (2023) or run game ineffectiveness (2022). In 2021, Cincinnati was only in shotgun 64% of the time, below league average. In 2022, they started off with a significant amount of under center snaps but changed the run game in week five due to the running game being awful. Then, last year, Burrow's injury really limited them and you saw a healthy amount of under center when Browning was playing. 

(05-23-2024, 05:28 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Took longer than I hoped, but good to hear nonetheless. I am looking forward to see what a proper singular mind can craft for this offense when it's not done by eight guys in a committee in real time that then sends it to the one guy who is supposed to be in charge of the whole team who then sends it to Burrow. I think less voices in Burrow's helmet and less steps between deciding a playcall and getting it to Burrow, the better. Also allows more accountability which is good for both praise and blame.

(05-23-2024, 05:50 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: That's not how they did it. There were several people involved in being prepared for a certain situation, but there weren't a lot of voices, or chaos from play to play.

(05-23-2024, 06:02 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Tell that to all of their delay of game penalties (2nd most in the NFL last year) and timeouts taken to avoid delay of game penalties last year. Something in the process of deciding a playcall to getting it to Burrow/Browning took way too long. We called timeout 3 timeouts alone on our offensive opening drives last year. If you aren't prepared on the opening drive of a game, when will you ever be prepared?

(05-23-2024, 05:50 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: That's not how they did it. There were several people involved in being prepared for a certain situation, but there weren't a lot of voices, or chaos from play to play.

(05-23-2024, 06:05 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Opening drives are scripted. I don't know what the problem was but it wasn't too many voices. We've discussed that aspect here before, based on how Zac said it was handled. Certain guys had to have plays ready for certain situations, 3rd and long, goal to go, etc, and they would give Zac a an option. He would then decide between what he was going to call and their suggestion. 

(05-23-2024, 05:44 PM)Sled21 Wrote: I didn't really take this that Zac was giving up play calling, just that he was letting Pitch design the offense.

(05-23-2024, 06:16 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I just hope Zac has given Dan the authority to fire his Oline coach, because Zac can't seem to figure out how to do it.

(05-23-2024, 07:44 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: My concern as well. Didn't read anything about play calling.