Dan Pitcher comments on Taylor – Burrow sideline “confrontation”

According to the OC, there’s nothing to see here.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday kept their slim playoff hopes alive, but it was a sloppy game, and it was clear quarterback Joe Burrow was unhappy about the way the offense performed.

He was caught on TV having a very animated conversation with head coach Zac Taylor that seemed to be laced with expletives, and many have wondered if the relationship between the two has soured.

According to offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, that’s not the case, and the two are just both intense competitors.

“It definitely happens more than what is perceived by the public,” he said when asked about the encounter,” said Pitcher (via Mike Petraglia). “I mean, he and I have gotten into it a couple of times. The camera probably wouldn’t have been on us, because I’m not the head coach. That’s kind of…it’s just intense competitors…Joe probably being the most intense competitor I’ve ever been around, and it happens. They probably happen more than what gets reported on.”

The Bengals defeated the Titans by 10 points, but they also left a lot of points on the field. Burrow had multiple interceptions, and the offense fumbled away the ball more than once as well. Had the Bengals been playing against a better team, the outcome could have been very different.

Burrow is understandably frustrated, considering he leads the league in passing yards, completions, and touchdown passes, yet the team has a 6-8 record heading into the final three-game stretch of the season. It’s almost surprising the first time we have seen what looks like tempers boiling over on the sideline is in Week 15.

There aren’t many relationships more important on a football team than the one between the head coach and the franchise quarterback. The two have to work hand in hand to get the team where they want to go. This is the first season where there has been any non-injury-related adversity.

In all of Burrow’s other healthy seasons, the team won the division and went deep into the playoffs, losing to the Chiefs in the AFC Championship in 2022 and losing the Super Bowl the season before.

It’s possible that this conversation is just a surface-level crack showing because everyone is understandably frustrated. If those cracks extend to the foundation, though, then a complete overhaul is necessary.

Until the season is over and the Bengals front office decides to make a move, though, we’ll have to rely on internet lip readers to give us an inside look at conversations like the ones had in Nashville on Sunday.