Offseason stories about the Bengals have centered on the moves they’ve made to bolster a defense that has struggled too often in recent seasons, but that’s not the only way the Bengals are trying to bring an end to their playoff drought.
Another focus has been on increasing the number of explosive plays on offense and that work has focused on how other teams have found success running plays with the quarterback under center. The top-five teams in plays under center and using play action while under center last season finished in the top quarter of the league in explosive plays.
The Bengals were 31st in under-center percentage and 30th in play action with quarterback Joe Burrow producing one explosive play in the latter category over the last three seasons. Burrow was seeing more time in those situations during the team’s OTAs and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said the team will continue to look for ways to make better use of those looks.
“If you are looking at, ‘How are we going to be a really explosive offense?’ the data would suggest you got to have a component of your offense that allows you to get under center and attack the defense.” Pitcher said, via Paul Dehner of TheAthletic.com. “Truthfully, yeah, I believe in what those numbers say, and we are going to have to explore that part of our offense.”
Burrow said that he is “always ready to drop back 65 times to make it work,” but said he’s excited about what the offense can do to become more explosive and said the team is “committed” to making that part of their attack for the fall.
