Many have wondered the true nature of Pete Carmichael’s role as the new offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. Much of that comes from the fact that Joe Brady previously held that role, and he still calling plays on game day as the team’s new and current head coach.
As part of his role, Carmichael is Brady’s eyes and ears during the week where needed, should the head coach be unable to sit in for any portion of the prep work. He’s intimately involved in each week’s game plan, and he brings a ton
of experience to the table as someone who worked alongside head coach Sean Payton.
Essentially, Carmichael is implementing the system Brady wants to run, allowing the first-time head coach to then dive in on game days after having to spend equal time working with the defense and special teams units. So far, it’s working pretty well.
Following Buffalo’s win against the Houston Texans, Carmichael spoke with reporters on Monday afternoon. To begin, Carmichael was asked about Austin Gunn, who quarterback Josh Allen specifically called out regarding his contributions to game planning. Carmichael praised the prep work done heading into Week 1, saying “Yeah, outstanding. We spent a lot of time on it. Austin, that’s uh, you know something, that’s his baby every week, and we sat in there as a staff and he took us through it and you know what he thought was the best plan, and obviously the players executed it. So yeah, shoutout to Austin for sure.”
Carmichael was then asked about tight end Dalton Kincaid, whose play in Week 1 stood out to anyone paying attention to the game. Carmichael understands what Kincaid brings to the offense, and sees no limitations in his work due to lingering injury. There’s a chemistry between Allen and Kincaid that very few QB-TE duos manage to enjoy, which obviously pays huge dividends for the Bills. Carmichael knows that Kincaid will play a key role this season if the offense is to remain productive and successful.
Though Carmichael is a consummate professional and a very laid-back veteran NFL coach, he did admit to being a bit of a “fan up in the press box” especially on the touchdown to wide receiver Joshua Palmer, understanding how rare that moment was given even he didn’t see things playing out as they did. Simply put, Carmichael said of Allen’s decision-making and execution: “That’s not where my eyes were. And obviously all of a sudden the ball went up and I was like ‘pretty special there.’ So it was awesome to see.”
There’s little time to dwell on the past in the NFL, but that’s especially true for the Bills this week as they try to get ready for a short turnaround to host the Detroit Lions for the season-opening bout under the lights of Thursday Night Football on Prime. Carmichael explained that top priorities in situations like this to emphasize rest and recovery early on, followed by doubling up days the next two practice sessions ahead of Thursday. It’s a lot to fit in, but something veteran NFL coaches likely have down to a science.
Check out the rest of Pete Carmichael’s latest press conference via the embedded video just below:
