On Oct. 8, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher walked to the practice field with no idea what to expect. He had met Joe Flacco, the Bengals’ new quarterback, at 8 p.m. the day before. In a matter of hours, Flacco would step into a huddle of players he had never met and tell them to run plays he barely knew. Maybe it would work. Maybe it would be a debacle. As Pitcher watched, Flacco commanded the huddle. He delivered play calls. He rifled footballs to receivers.

“It was weirdly smooth,” Pitcher said. “It was smooth to the point where you wouldn’t have expected it. I walked out of that, like, ‘Holy s—, we can probably do most of what we want to do.’”

The Bengals have turned their season into an experiment with little, if any, precedent. Desperate to keep their season aliv

See Full Page