Dan Pitcher Opens Up About Rare, Long Partnership With Joe Burrow

CINCINNATI — Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher guided a solid unit last season, given that they missed Joe Burrow for the majority of the campaign due to injury.

The offense fully reintegrated him successfully down the stretch of last season (13th in EPA/play in the final seven weeks), but there is still another level for the whole unit to hit.

Cincinnati is always looking to get more dynamic with its formations. Pitcher touched on that at this week's NFL Combine. He's coached Burrow directly since 2020 and been his coordinator for the past two seasons.

Most NFL quarterbacks rarely get consecutive seasons with one OC, let alone a third like Burrow's about to experience. On top of the 2020-2023 stretch when Pitcher was his quarterbacks coach.

"Yes. That’s the dilemma. Those are the trade-offs. You can go in a million different areas," Pitcher said about adding new things (like under center plays) while not taking away things that already work. "You guys watch a lot of football. You can see there are a lot of different ways to play offense. No matter how you choose to play, it's going to lend itself to some really good things happening, and also going to cost you something.

"That’s our job as coaches to do that math. And constantly take feedback because that math may be different in OTAs versus training camp versus the season, based on who we have available, based on who we are playing against. That’s the job. But we are very open-minded when it comes to what things we can do to get better. We look at all of it."

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9), far right, observes play alongside Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Trevor Siemian (19), far left, and quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher during a joint practice between the Green Bay Packers and the Cincinnati Bengals, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at the practice fields next to Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. | Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Burrow ended up playing as well as he normally does last season.

His 91.8 Pro Football Focus grade ranked second behind 2025 MVP Matthew Stafford, and he ranked fourth in the league in big-time throw rate (6.6%), while posting the lowest turnover-worth play rate (0.7%).

He's willing to win anyway it takes.

"Joe wants to win," Pitcher said about the star. "Joe is going to tell you that he can do anything. He’s not going to tell you he can’t do anything. He’s the ultimate competitor. He’s also a guy who watches a lot of football and is well-researched and cognizant of all the factors that go into play when you are trying to choose how you are going to play offense.

"My experience with Joe and he and I have been attached at the hip since he walked in the building has been lets do the research, lets put together the evidence, lets make a plan and lets make sure we are all on the same page as to what that plan is and then you are willing to adjust off of it once we learn new things. I just think that is the world he lives in, and I wouldn’t want him to live in any other world. That’s the world I live in. We just want to win and figure out how we can contribute to that to the greatest extent possible as an offense."

On-field workouts at the event start today and continue through Monday as Cincinnati gets more clarity on prospects to help Burrow in the coming days.

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