Do the Bengals Throw Too Much? Dan Pitcher Responds to Alex Smith

Do the Cincinnati Bengals throw the ball too much? Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher doesn't think so. It's not that he thinks they need to throw it more, but he believes the rate at which they throw it now is not excessive.

Joe Burrow has thrown the ball 30 or more times in all seven of the Bengals' games this season, and he's topped 45 attempts twice, throwing it 54 times against the Jacksonville Jaguars and 48 times in last week's win over the Tennessee Titans. Burrow is averaging 38 pass attempts per game, which ranks in the top 10 in the NFL but isn't an outlier among other NFL quarterbacks.

You can't say he isn't having success with this approach. He leads the NFL in passing touchdowns and is on pace for 49, which would give him 206 passing touchdowns in a Bengals uniform and pass Andy Dalton for the franchise lead.

Pitcher boiled it down to the opportunity cost for the Bengals if they were to slow down the rate at which they throw the ball. In a very professional, coach-speak way, he said what Bengals fans have been seeing all season: The running game is not effective enough to be relied upon in any way.

Pitcher was responding to former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, who said the offensive model the Bengals are running is not sustainable and that they need to try to develop their running game more.

Pitcher pushed back on the notion that the Bengals haven't tried to develop the running game, but he said the way the offense is built encourages throwing at a higher rate than most NFL teams. Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase are both playing like All-Pro level receivers, and not giving them the ball doesn't make much sense. 

The funny part about that statement is the Bengals' reported interest in Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor, who is being pegged by some as the savior of the Bengals' offense. That might be easier said than done. The Bengals too often run out of the shotgun and use RPOs, or run-pass options, in their run scheme, and Taylor and Chase Brown have produced similarly out of those formations.

The Colts' high asking price should be too steep for a Bengals team whose offense, by its coordinator's own description, isn't built to put Taylor in the best position to succeed.