CINCINNATI — Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher met with the media following Sunday's practice, dropping his latest feelings on the interior offensive line and two players in particular.
Lucas Patrick and Dylan Fairchild are battling for the right and left guard spots in training camp right now as Cincinnati looks for the best interior options in front of Joe Burrow.
Patrick had a rough preseason debut against Philadelphia on Thursday. Looking at Pro Football Focus' metrics, the veteran posted a 52.1 overall grade on 16 total snaps in the game. Pitcher was a little more lenient in his assessment.
"I thought he played well in the game," Pitcher said on the other side. "A couple of plays that he wants back. Obviously, there's a third down he got beat. That's been a focus for us that we can't have, you know? And there are a few of the things towards the end of the down. But Lucas plays with great urgency. He plays with great technique. He plays with great awareness. He's a leader, he's a pro, he's a competitor. And he's practiced really well for us. And then I thought minus a couple plays the other night, I thought he played well."
Patrick should be able to improve on those numbers the rest of this month and beyond, but he's never proven to have a high NFL ceiling at the position since entering the league in eight previous seasons.
On the other hand, Fairchild's NFL die is hardly cast after playing better than Patrick as a rookie. The Georgia product posted a strong 89.5 PFF grade across his 16 snaps on Thursday.
He could be an instant jolt to the Bengals' pass protection and run blocking if this continues. A big if considering Philadelphia's backup personnel it used the entire game.
"Dylan played really well in the game," Pitcher declared. "I was pleased, he played physical, he was aggressive. He and O.B. (Orlando Brown) had a good twist pass on the left side on a third down. He was assignment sound and technically sound, and he played well, but it's a 15-play sample. Obviously, it was for the world to see. So you want your 15 plays to be good. But every day's got to be that, and so he's still going through that process of how do I play to our standard, all the time?"
Cincinnati hasn't hit on an offensive line pick yet so far this decade.
Eyes are on Dylan Fairchild and Amarius Mims as the top candidates for that rare occurrence.
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