It's the Locked On podcast Network, Your team every Day. Hi, I'm Jake from Locked On. What do the teams you root for, your music playlist, and your podcast feeds all have in common? Spoiler alert, They're reflection of you. And that's what the State Farm Personal Price Plan has in
common too. It gives you options to help personalize your coverage so that you can protect what you care about most, and an affordable price just for you so you can see more of yourself in everything you love, Like a good neighbor. State Farm is there. Prices vary by state, Options selected by customer, Availability and eligibility may vary. The Cincinnati Bengals have introduced Dan Pitcher as their next offensive coordinator. Let's get into what that means and how it
went down. You are Locked On Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast Network, Your team every day Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast. I'm Jake, let's go. He's James Vapine. We are the Lockdown Bengals podcast, covering your
team every day. We're available to you for free on YouTube and anywhere you get your podcast if you're new to the show and you'd like to stay up to date on, for example, things going on with the Bengals OC search, maybe what's going on with some players on the Bengals defense, like Dax Hill, where we did a full episode last week or this week early this week. This week has been a long week. This is a podcast for
you. Make sure you subscribe. Today we're going to talk about the Dan Pitcher hire, his introductory press conference, how it went down, what it means for the team, in an episode brought to you by Fandel where you can get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets guarantee when you place a five dollar bet as a Fandel dot Com slash locked on to get started and James just a couple seats away from where you're sitting, Zach Taylor and Dan
Pitcher talk to you guys in the media down at Pey Course Stadium and Dan was introduced as the next offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. Yeah, huge news. It's something we've obviously discussed a time this week. What it happened, could it happen, should it happen? A lot of takeaways You're going to hear from Dan Pitcher coming up in just a bit. But my major thought is how valued he was in this building from multiple people when we can
discuss those exact people, and they did not want to lose him. They feel like he's ready to be an offensive coordinator. He was obviously valued across the league from multiple teams, and the fact that the Bengals were able to keep him here is big. I think there are some out there that are saying, oh, well, why didn't you go out and get this guy
or that guy or bigger names or whatever the case is. I'll say this, I think Dan is one of those guys that would have went to whatever team and that team would have been really excited once they got to know Dan Pitcher that he was in their building. And I know people in this building right now, as you mentioned, I'm at pay Court Stadium. They're excited that Dan stuck around, that he's the new offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals. And yeah, I think it's a really exciting day. And I do
think the Bengals got it right. I want to be on record and be very clear about that. I think the Bengals got it right with this hire. I think that promoting Dan Pitcher makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons. Zach Taylor and Dan Pitcher talked about some of those reasons. He's been in the building working toward this role. You know that Joe Burrow
is a big fan. We've talked about and played the quote where he talked up his relationship with Dan Pitcher on this podcast this week leading into this episode, he in a statement today reaffirmed his support for Dan Pitcher as you know
he would Jake Browning. Huge phrase for Dan Pittch sure, Zach Taylor, huge praise for Dan Pitcher and getting Jake Browning ready in terms of Jake Browning being able to come in and didn't have a hot performance against the Steelers in either opportunity, but had a pretty good start to his career as a starter in a backup role, but for his first starts exceeded expectations for you and I I know James and Dan Pitcher a big part of that as well.
It will be an expansion obviously of his role in the offense, but it's not like he has no part in game planning. We'll talk about that as well. And the timing really did work out. To your point, I think Dan Pitcher was going to get a job somewhere else if he didn't land with the Cincinnati Bengals. There was interest, like we've talked about, from three different teams in New England Patriots and Las Vegas Raiders, New Orleans Saints.
I think that one of those teams, maybe more of those teams were very interested in hiring him, as you've probably seen on social media. And I think we talked about Marvin Lewis connection with Dan Pitcher. Marvin Lewis was the first person to give Pitcher coaching job in the NFL. Marvin Lewis in Las Vegas certainly a connection there. They're talking to some other ex Martin Lewis coaches in Las Vegas, and you've seen teams around the NFL. Maybe the
Bucks come again. Dave Canal's got hired on Thursday to be the next head coach of the Carolina Panthers. So maybe other teams that we didn't even know about yet would have gotten into it for Dan's services as well. Wasn't very high demand around the NFL, and that familiarity with the process in Cincinnati will help him hit the ground running. I don't expect everything to be identical. It's still Zach calling the plays, we think, but it won't be identical
to the way it was when Brian Callahan was OC. But at least he's familiar with the processes. He's been part of the game planning, specifically on third downs. But he's been part of this system in this machine and has seen how it operates and now gets to put his imprint on it with the promotion. Well, yeah, let's start. First off, I do think he will. He won't be calling plays that'll be Zach still, so we can say that and past the think part of it. But we thought that
would be the case. Anyways. I do think that some people think that Zach does this, did this, and made this. Oh, well, this way he can still call plays. Oh. I think this is a structure that has worked. It's the same structure, by the way, and we're recording this before Brian Callahan talks that. Guess what Brian Callahan's going to implement in Nashville with the Tennessee Titans because he thinks it works. We're talking about an NFL lifeer here, not someone that just got to the league last
year. So I think the structure works. What's interesting about what you said, and I think we really need to hammer at home. Who's the franchise? Oh it's Joe Burrow, right, Joe Burrows the franchise. Joe. I thought you were going to say, Mike Brown, No, it's not the most important man in the building, assuming he's still here. He was here earlier. Is Joe Burrow. Period. It doesn't matter who walks in this building as the most important man in this building. So sorry, Mike.
I think Mike would say it too. By the way, I think when you have that and you have a quarterbacks coach that has been that quarterbacks coach for five years or four years, rather in each of the four seasons that Burrow has been in the league, and they learn and they grow together, and you have Burrow saying I wouldn't be the player I am without him. It's really hard to let that OC go and then also let the quarterbacks coach go go be an OC elsewhere when he's probably the best man for the
job anyways, and obviously they think he is. Burrow thinks he is. So it's that factor's huge. The other factor for Dan, because you mentioned the jobs, there were other jobs that were in on him was being able to coach Joe Burrow. Let's be honest, it's not just the Cincinnati Chile and how nice it is to be in a Midwestern town, as fun as that is to play out, and he said how this feels like home because he's been here for eight years. I don't deny any of that, but
being able to work with Joe Burrow was a big factor as well. Here's what Dan Pitcher had to say about the Burrow factor on why he had to stay or decided to stay in Cincinnati. It's huge. There's a lot of people in this profession that I respect who have great perspective, who have reached out to me and almost to a person, you know. Their advice is, when you have an elite quarterback, you hang on as long as you
can. And we have that here. And not only is he an elite player, but you know, I've gotten to know him so well as a person. He's a special person. He's different. They don't make many like him. And to get to continue working with him day in and day out, knowing that we have a guy that can can win us a world championship, it's hard to put a price on that. Obviously, continuing that relationship
is something that makes sense for this team. Burrow has ascended to the level he's as senditude, like he said, like we've seen not in small part dude to his work with Dan Pitcher, and he works closely with all of the offensive staff, Zach Taylor. He worked closely with Brian Callahan. He worked closely with Dan Pitcher as well. But continuing that thread for Joe continues
that bit of continuity as well. And so when we talk about continuity, it's not just coaching staff, it's also what has worked for this offense in the past, what has gotten them through the adaptations they've gotten through in the past, and Pitch has been part of that too, scrapping the under center offense, becoming a good deep ball team, beating cover two after teams reacted
to you being a good deep ball team. Over the last couple of years, Pitch has been part of that process, collaboratively with Joe burrowa Zach Taylor as well. And something we're going to talk about in just a minute coming up is how that philosophy and how his experience in this adjustable Bengals offense, this game plan specific Bengals offense will manifest in the future as well, so
some more to talk about. Obviously, with the Bengals hiring Dan Pitcher, we also have to talk about how they got there, how they got to this spot the timing really did work out. Will continue the topic of Dan Pitcher, new Bengals offensive coordinator coming up next. This episode of Lockdown Bengals is brought to us by our sponsor Better Help. Sometimes we all need the opportunity to get something off our chest, bigger, small, certain things can
really start to get to you. It's important to let that all out, especially to someone who's unbiased on your life, and that's where Better Help can come in. Today. I'm just going to share how I really feel about something. You might be thinking about the same thing this week. Maybe it's the Ravens and the Chiefs and the AFC Championship game. Doesn't feel very comfortable to see those teams and to pick which one you would prefer to win.
Maybe it's just seeing Brian Callahan going to coach a different team. If you're me the relationship we've had with him on this podcast and having to see him leave the building therapy can be different for everyone. Most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports team, or who's playing in the ANFC championship game, or where Brian Callahan is coaching, and it's important to get those things off your chest every once in a while. So if you're thinking of starting
therapy, you can give Better Help a try. It's entirely online, suited to your schedule, designed to be flexible. Visit Betterhelp dot com slash lockdown. You'll get ten percent off your first month. That's Better Help h elp dot com slash locked Up. Today's show is also brought to you by FanDuel. Fandel is a one stop shop for all things sports betting, and right now they have a deal. As Jake mentioned, the conference championship games going
on this weekend, it's Championship Sunday. And that's why you got to get to America's number one sports book. Because new customers get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets guaranteed. When you place a five dollars bet. You could win that bet, lose that bet, doesn't matter. You still get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets guaranteed. And so whether it's NFL, whether it's NBA, and those of you that listen, No, I go out of my way to mention NBA because I'm a big NBA fan.
Fandel is the place for you. They have live same game parlays and they have plenty of different prop bets for you. So spice up Championship Sunday with Fandle by going to fandle dot com slash locked on to get one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets when you place a five dollars bet. Again, that's fandle dot Com slash locked on. Fandle Official partner of the NFL.
James saying on the topic of Dan Pitcher in Cincinnati, of course, talking about what he brings to the table, talked about his experience in this offense, talked about how things won't be exactly the same. He obviously carries himself a little bit differently too. What did you think, Actually, we didn't plan for this, so I'm putting you on the spot here. What did you think talking to Pitch in that press conference, setting out that you've never
talked to him before. Comparing that to the way Brian approaches those conversations and it was certainly different. You know, I think Brian's unique. I think Pitch was unique carried himself well. The thing that I like about him is that he admitted how fluid everything was and how good it was to feel wanted, and how he ultimately deep down wanted to be here but knew and had to prepare himself for the fact that that might not be the case. And
I get that. I can totally relate to that. I think a lot of people can. If you've had to move for jobs, or you're in the middle of should you stay, should you go, you're interviewing for other positions for whatever the case is, or whatever the job is, and so I like that he acknowledged that, and he was open about thinking he was ready for this type of role, this type of coaching role, and he was going to get it. To go back, he was going to get
it. He was going to accept one. And I think ultimately he's happy it's here versus elsewhere, but it was going to happen. So I think that's part of it, is how honest he was, and that is something that Brian has been as well. But I also think Pitch is going to bring his own unique experience, of course, but his own attitude, his own mindset, and I do think it's going to change some Everyone talks about
it's the same eyes. You need to bring in a new set of eyes they did, because his role is going to change, and I'm sure the way he views offense is going to change this Bengals offense a bit, no doubt. Yeah, I think that we will see some differences, but the machine is the same and I think that there are positives there. We've talked about that. I talked about that in the previous segment a few minutes ago. The pieces that produced the success that they've had, and the critics would
say, the tribulations they've had are still in place. And while there will be some differences with Dan Pitcher o C Dan Pitcher more responsible for the entirety of the offense, we should see differences within the same playing field. And we saw this team last year in the OTAs in Mini camp going toward more under center, more play action. We saw that come out with Jake Browning. We saw them become a really good screen team with Jake Browning late in
the year. Dan Pitcher obviously part of those transformations as well, and just having been through that experience, whether that was Brian driving it, whether it was Zach driving it, whether he was driving it, is going to be
invaluable for him as he thinks about how to approach the NFL. That is increasingly, I think, for especially for the really good teams, a week to week league where you have to have answers on both sides of the ball for the kind of strengths and weaknesses your opponent has, and where your limitations are, where your injuries are, where you don't necessarily have the things that you might want in your ideal world from a personnel perspective, and he talked
about that as well. You can kind of zoom out and say and look at the big picture of you know, who you want to be as an offense, and when you get into the season, and Zach does such an amazing job of this, it's really about who do we have to be in a given week to beat the team that we need to play, And that takes into account constraints that you may have within your own building and then who are we facing and I just think we do such a good job of that.
So there's been a lot made of what did the offense look like over the final part of the season, and I really just think that's a product of us looking at it on a week two week basis, who do we have available to us, who are we playing, and what do we need
to do to win? And that's something we'll always do, and so we'll look at some of those things that we did well at the end of the year, and certainly Joe Burrow is capable of doing anything you ask him to do, and so that's what we'll do this offseason, is do a great job of deciding who we need to be moving forward and then have the adaptability to adjust if we need to. I'm not sure there's anything else you'd want to hear there if you're a Bengals fan, like maybe you're hoping Joe Brady
would be the one saying it, or Eric the Enemy or whoever. But figure out what to do on offense and then adapt as it goes. I works for me, like sign me up. And I think that because it's kind of weird because he's in the building and didn't come from elsewhere and is it new that some will be negative on that, but I think that's exactly what you want to hear from an offensive coordinator and that adaptability. By the
way, think about this too. Some think that Joe Burrow is this guy that just wants to go empty all the time and isn't willing to do things and all of those things. Right, that's a narrative for sure. Was quarterbacks coach, the man that he certainly wanted to be offensive coordinator is up there saying we're going to be adaptable every single week. I think that that's a good influence there. So just initial reactions to that clip and that's one
that certainly stood out to you as well. Yeah, and you still see them being adaptable. It just might be that when Joe Burrow is a quarterback, they're doing different things out of empty and when Jake Browning was a quarterback, they're doing different things under center. They're doing different rollouts, different boots,
they're getting Jake Browning just dream of the sideline. No more f and nakeds and so, you know, you have different different approaches based on who your personnel is, and you've seen this staff do this throughout their time in Cincinnati. Is something that we've talked to Brian Callahan about in the past, and they're missing guys. They see it as a challenge to keep the offense on schedule or at least functional and overcome where there might be weaknesses, deficiencies,
injuries, whatever it is. They have to game plan around that and try to find ways to push the right buttons. And they're able to do that a number of times with Jake Browning at quarterback. They were able to do that with some of these majorly deficient offensive lines on deep playoff runts over the years as well, right, and so the demonstrated ability to do that, Dan Pitcher being a part of that, I think that is encouraging.
Another thing that we didn't clip, so you're not going to hear what Dan Pitcher had to say about it, but he talked about the running game as well. He clearly has a belief that to be good on offense, you need to be able to run the ball. That's something that they're going to look at as well. It's another place where you look at their week to
week adaptability. That's a big place where it's really visible is the way that they're calling the run game differs significantly based on what they're expecting their opponents to do. There are weeks where they're running a bunch of toss plays and it's driving fans crazy because for whatever reason, they're not working well. Some of that is because they think that they can get to the perimeter and run those
toss plays against the opponent. There are other weeks where they're running the toss plays, they are hitting and people are like, oh, where has this been? Well, it's the reality of how the opposing defense plays, or they're running a lot of trap, or they're running a lot of those designer you know, windback runs to Chase Brown, who's got a defined read. The deception is getting him and execution is getting him into a big hole,
getting him downhill and letting him use his speed. Another example of that right that is very very visible and obvious, maybe more so than the way passing concepts differ, where you can't tell where the ball necessarily is going. So would expect that to continue? Sounds like that is going to continue, and that's what Dan Pitcher's talking about there. Jayson can also talk about how this
came to fruition. Zach Taylor and Brian Wow Dan Pitcher both talking about how lucky it was that this worked out and how the timing worked out, so we can talk about that as well coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Prize Picks. Prize Picks is daily fantasy football the way it should be. You can earn up to twenty five times your money this football
season, certainly during this playoff run. And it's simple. You can take Patrick Mahomes and say he's going to throw for less than his number of projected passing yards. With Prize Picks, you don't have to go up against pros, Sharks and thousands of other players. It's you versus the Prize Picks projections. So maybe you think that future Bengal Clyde Edwards Hilaire, I'm just kidding. Oh, look at that is going to run for more than the number
of Prize Picks projection rushing yards that Prize Picks has for this weekend. Well, you can go that route as well, and see I had to give the Chiefs at least one more than this week Jake, So that's why I did that. I at least pick someone that you know the LSU connection. Anyways, you got to get the Prize Picks today. It only takes a minute or so to make your selections. You can combine NBA and NFL and
everything in between. So got a prize picks dot com slash locked on NFL and use code locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to one hundred dollars. That's prize picks dot Com slash locked on NFL and use code locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to one hundred dollars. Hi, I'm Jake from Lockdown. Think of all the amazing things in life that are
expressions of you. Your favorite football team, what you wear to the playoff watch party, that song that you stream over and over to get you pumped up for the gym, or the recommendations that you share with your friends on the top six comedy podcasts that are best to listen to you on a long road trip. Or even your new haircut, which may or may not be an epic ball cut from the nineties and hopefully is everything that makes you you
makes all the difference. State Farm believes insurance should work the same way you're playing Your coverage. Selections can be personalized by you and the ability to choose the plane you want by picking the options that fit you, like choosing to bundle your home and auto policies is what the state Farm Personal Price Plan is all about, getting the coverage you want at an affordable price just for you, like a good neighbor. State farm is there. Prices are based on
rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. James, before we talk about how this came to fruition for the Bengals, anything else you want to add around what you're expecting picture to bring as oc after the conversation we just had. Yeah, I think it's it's just pretty unique this situation where it feels. I think there isn't as much excitement about it as
I think there should be. And I think that and I don't know how it's going to go. I don't know how the offense is going to be. It should be really, really good. But this Bengals staff, they were able to stay together for the most part for the past five years, certainly the past three years during this run where they've been really good, and the coaches have grown and they've continued to grow. And I think Dan is
one of those guys that is going to make a positive impact. He did discuss the run game a little bit, said that every offense needs to be able to run the ball. Also said that it looks different for offense to offense or from offense to offense. So I think that's interesting because I think that aligns with and we'll see as the year goes on and off season goes on. I think they want to be explosive in the run game. I think they want to get explosive there, dynamite there, and that's what it
means. It doesn't mean forty carries. It means fifteen carries, and you get multiple explosives every week. So we'll see there. But that's one thing that stood out. But I think they hired a really, really good coach and you elevate him and you go that route. It makes a ton of sense. And so call me crazy, say I'm looking through it through Orange, whatever the hell you want to do, I don't care. I think it's I think it was a really good hire. I think it made sense,
and I'm excited to see what Pitcher brings to the job. The reality is that we know more about this higher than you know about most coaching hires, because he's been in the building because we know what his relationship has been with Joe Burrow, because we've seen directly firsthand, not going back and looking through it historically, but we've lived through the moments of Jake Browning taking over a quarterback, of Joe Burrow evolving as a quarterback in the NFL, and
Burrow has credited Pitcher for that. Certainly, you've seen them discussing things on the sideline throughout game, So having seen that firsthand, I think that that might be part of it as well. I don't know what the reaction is. I think a lot of people are totally fine with Dan Pitcher or happy
that Dan Pitcher is the Bengals next to see. I think there's certainly people that think they should have interviewed elsewhere as the Buffalo Bills reportedly are getting started with their formal OC process, and just like the Bengals, they have to go through the same process where they're interviewing Joe Brady for their full time OC job. Some Bengals fans would have liked the Bengals to kick the tires there as it were. Again, I'm not sure he was ever available. Don't
disagree with that idea. If he was. But the difference here is that there's a lot of familiarity with Dan Pitcher. There's this idea that because he's in the organization, like you said, there won't be change. I think there will be, but time will tell. We'll get a better feel for
it as time goes on. I'm really interested and we'll see if you have an opportunity to ask Dan Pitcher this question, either at the combine or some time between now and the draft as to how he sees his role changing from quarterbacks coach to OC going into the draft, and we know the role that
Bengals coaches play in the draft process. It didn't really come up too much in the press or today, but interested to see how that is changing for him as well as his role expands and he has more responsibility for the entire offense instead of, you know, just the downs that he's assigned to or the position that he's assigned to. So that'll be something interesting to monitor and see how that evolves as well with him being the OC in Cincinnati, which
is a unique place to be in OC just because of the draft stuff that I'm mentioning, but we also know that there was some fortuitous element for this coming together for the Bengals, the Titans making their higher right before Dan Pitcher was scheduled to head out of the building, potentially get oc offers from other teams. Who knows if those teams let him leave the building, much like Tennessee didn't want to let Brian leave without a deal in place. And it
really did work out. I think in the nick of time, the Bengals got through the process, got to put an offer together for Dan Pitcher that was appealing enough to keep him in Cincinnati, combined with elements like Joe Burrow, which he talked about as a big factor staying with the elite QB. Who knows what the offer was or if he had offers on the table from other teams, but whatever the Bengals did to put it together kept Dan Pitcher
in Cincinnati, and the timing really did work out. Zach and Dan both talked about that in the presser. Yeah. I asked Zach about it, the stress element of it, and he said overall, it wasn't too stressful until the timing part. And it's something we discussed last week. Is man, this could be the nightmare scenario where I mean, think about it, Brian had interviews scheduled for Wednesday with Atlanta. It's not like we knew for sure by Thursday he would have a you know, be introduced as a head
coach somewhere. So the fact that the Titans acted quickly didn't let him go to Carolina. And I think Dave can Allis can also think the Titans, because I don't think he has a head coaching job right now. I think the Panthers would have hired Callahan and that's probably how the Titans felt, and so they make the move quick and get their guy, and that helped the Bengals because I think if you wait till now, you're probably talking about Dan
Pitcher being an offensive coordinator somewhere else. I think it's fair to assume that he would have gotten offers, maybe multiple offers, you know, maybe it would have been he had an interview with New Orleans multiple times, had that interview with Vegas scheduled, obviously, had a couple of virtuals with New England.
If I'm New England, do I look at Dan Pitcher, a guy who's coached the number one overall pick and one of the best quarterbacks in the league from the past four years and say hey, we're taking a quarterback third overall, we want you in the building. Hell yeah, you do right, Hell yeah you do. So. I think there would have been multiple offers for him, So it worked out about as well as it could have. And timing wise, I'm sure that was probably the most stressful part for
Dan as well as Zach in the entire organization. Not that the Bengals wouldn't have found someone. This is one of the best offensive coordinator jobs in the league. In the league, I'll be very clear without that. But I think he is the right man for the job. And sometimes you have that coach, the right coach for the job, you have that person in house. Sometimes you do. And the Bengals were lucky enough to have that person in the house this time, and it worked out to where he didn't leave.
They beat the curfew, they beat the clock. Just in the nick of time. We'll find out how things go. I just circle back to the idea that we know more about this, and we know about most coaching hires. When most coaching hires occur, we don't know enough about their history to make a proclamation is this a good hire? Is this a bad hire? We try we prognosticate, you always do, but just like I don't know for sure. I think Brian Callahan will be a good head coach because
I know what Brian Callahan is about. I think Dan Pitcher will be a good OC because we know a little bit about what Dan Pitcher's about. We've seen firsthand. Like I said, we've seen what he's done in Cincinnati, but it hasn't always been perfect. And who knows how that role transition plays out. It is a new job for Pitch and with many of these things,
you really have to do wait and see. But it's exciting to see the Bengals turn the page their first major coaching change, like major coaching change, coordinator coaching change in the Zach Taylor era and Hop Pollock, I would count offensive line coach that was big, but I think not as big as a as a coordinator. You I was thinking about Pollock, But you could say, by the way that it's Pitcher perfect, not the first to make that joke, won't be the last. That's going to be our thumbnail for
today's show, by the way, just s perfect. Well, anybody watching already knows that, so not a spoiler. Subscribe on YouTube and follow wherever you get your podcasts. For the picture perfect Locked On Bengals episode, I wonder if we'll be at nineteen thousand subscribers or if they'll just like unsubscribed. Don't do that, don't do that, don't do that. That's gonna do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, or back next week without
a coaching search. Maybe a QB coach will be announced, but no week long dramatic coaching news to follow, but there's still plenty of off season content here and until then, Thanks for listening Whoday and have a good money