Ask Me Anything with TCUDan starts now

Honestly I hope they don't go back to doing that. What works for us was a good running game, balance attack that resulted in less turnovers. This resulted us 3 straight NFC south title. And of course we still don't know what we have in Winston, especially come back from ACl. Yes I would like for us to push the ball down field a little more than last year and allow the offense to open up.

But speaking of Carmichael, how confident do you feel in him calling the plays full time now? Even though things might stay the same somewhat, but Payton was the one calling the plays all these years and understand situational football. I am not going to lie. I am a little nervous about it.
I think Carmichael was wayyyyyyyy more involved that people realized. Plus, he spent... what, 14 seasons with Payton? I'm not that worried about him.

A lot of emphasis on OC gets put on gameday. But the gameplan is laid out through the week. How a coach or coordinator performs on gameday is 90% preparation. The other 10% is having the stones, cold bloodeness, and confidence to make a decision.

A lot of being a HC (or a coordinator to a lesser extent) is being decisive. Not toiling over whether you are making THE RIGHT decision... but to make a decision, confidently (which again, comes through preparation), and then trusting your team to make you right. In those games without Payton these last couple of years, I thought Carmichael showed he can do that.

Not to go off on a tangent, but a lot of "bad coaching decisions" on game day (legitimate ones, not MMQB-judged ones) come from coaches who prepared all week for one thing, then in the moment where they should trust their prep, they go rogue (overthinking it, losing confidence in a certain area due to the ebb and flow of the game, etc.). Yes, you have to be able to adjust, but when critical decisions have to be made, if you have prepared your team/players/staff in a certain direction, it was done for a reason. Go with that. Your guys will trust it, be more likely to succeed, and they will make your decision the right one.

All that said, I honestly think the defense is the bigger question mark (in relation to it staying consistent--I'm still not worried). Carmichael's only job will be running the offense. Allen is adding HC to his duties. I hope he has a guy on the defensive side who he trusts as much as Payton trusted Carmichael. Because taking on HC duties does not come without a price.