JUST IN: The Discussion: Orange County Bengals Dan Pitcher Discusses A ‘We’re Going To Be Who We Are The…
After Dan Pitcher finished his first spring as Bengals offensive coordinator and ninth with the team, he added a conversation with Bengals.com senior writer Geoff Hobson to his call sheet.
They talked about how quarterback Joe Burrow looked in his first action since wrist surgery, Pitcher’s thoughts on his top two drafted rookies, right tackle Amarius Mims and wide receiver Jermaine Burton, and just how much the playbook has changed. If at all.
The conversation:
GH: First things first. How did Joe look this spring?
DP: Good. Listen, any time you’re working back from something that keeps you out for an extended period, there’s going to be a period of time where it doesn’t. I thought he looked good. I’m sure if you asked him, there are probably things where he’s like, ‘Ah, I’ve got to work through this, I’ve got to work through that.’ That’s just normal.
Anyone who’s ever missed time due to an injury and comes back knows that’s the case. I’m very happy with what I saw from him in the spring and where he’s at, both mentally and physically, and I know he’s going to put the work in over the next four or five weeks. He’ll be in a great place when we start training camp, so I’m happy with where he’s at.
GH: Have you been dreaming about having a full training camp with him?
DP: Obviously, we want that to be the case. I don’t even think about it. He’s going to be here. We’re going to have a great camp. We’re going to develop into the offense that we need to be and we’re going to hit the ground running week one, and that’s the only thing I think about.
GH: It’s been said this is the biggest change in the playbook since Burrow has been here.
DP: I don’t know that’s an accurate assessment. We are a flexible and adaptable offense that has always had the ability to reach into different parts of that offense, depending on who the people are that we have and who are the people that we’re playing against. In the spring, you’re not really worried about who you’re playing against, you’re worried about yourself and worried about putting your players in great position to show what they can do.