Brian Callahan Discusses Adding Wrinkles to Bengals Offense: 'Don't Be Stubborn'

Cincinnati takes on the San Francisco 49ers coming off of its bye week.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Publish date:
Oct 18, 2023 3:01 PM EDT

In this story:

CINCINNATI — Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan is open to exploring more formation options as the Bengals get ready to attack the rest of the season.

Cincinnati has largely relied on shotgun formations in Joe Burrow's career, especially so this season, as the offense worked around his lingering calf strain.

"Somewhere in between is probably the best answer," Callahan said about balancing additions to the offense on the Locked On Bengals Podcast. "Because there's things that are core to who we are and we feel really good about being able to execute those particular things. There's also an element of don't be stubborn and there's ways that we can help our guys get in better position. We can help Joe find a little bit easier path sometimes and having him not shoulder it all. And I think that's my job and our job as an offensive staff to put ourselves in that position where we can do a little bit more to help still lean on the things that we know we're really good at and capable of executing at a high level."

The Bengals offense relies heavily on elite quarterback decision-making and accuracy, paired with matchup winners at the receiver spots.

That worked swimmingly in 2021 and for much of last season as Burrow amassed 91.8 and 92 Pro Football Focus grades. This season, he hasn't hit those heights snap-to-snap for whatever reason, be it the calf limitations or lack of reps with no training camp (66.4 PFF grade).

"Find some new things to work on and new things that maybe aren't something that we've done a lot of in the past," Callahan said. "Maybe we need them at this point. And so that's what these next few days are about for us during the bye week and when we get back and get ready to go against San Francisco. What things can we add that makes life a little easier on everybody?"

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