In 11 days, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will kick off their 2024 season with a visit from the Washington Commanders. The team has high hopes for the campaign, as they seek to make the playoffs for the fifth straight year and capture the NFC South title for the fourth time in a row. On their way to their third straight division crown last year, the Buccaneers defied outside expectations as new starting quarterback Baker Mayfield put together a career year to lead the team to the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

It's safe to say those outside expectations are lagging once again in 2024. After signing veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Atlanta Falcons are the heavy favorite to come out on top in the South. The Buccaneers not-so-secretly like being taken lightly and are eager to prove the critics wrong again.

Who will end up on the right side of the disagreement? For the Buccaneers to come out on top, they will surely need for Mayfield to be great again and for the defense to once again crack the top 10 in fewest points allowed. Those are at the top of the list, but there are many other issues that could swing the season one way or another. We call those "X-Factors" and Staff Writer/Reporter Brianna Dix and I are spending the week trying to identify some of them.

That is what we are doing again today, and it's Brianna's turn to go first. Give us your fourth X-Factor of the week, Bri.

Brianna's X-Factor No. 4: Pass rush success when rushing four.

In 2023 according to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranked 24th in quarterback pressure percentage when rushing four, at 32.1%. On the quest for another NFC South title, the Bucs' ability to generate pressure without sending a blitz will be crucial.

This season, the Buccaneers will face five division winners from the 2023 season – the maximum number a team can play in the 17-game format – in addition to facing all four teams who played in the conference championship games a season ago. Five of the last eight Heisman Trophy winners will play at Raymond James Stadium this upcoming season, including four matchups between Heisman-winning quarterbacks. The Bucs' defense will face a myriad of heralded signal-callers in 2024 that are regarded as top-15-level talent at the position, including Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jared Goff and Brock Purdy.

Last season, first-year player Yaya Diaby led the Bucs in sacks with 7.5 and nose tackle Vita Vea came in second with 5.5. Three-technique Calijah Kancey came in with four and made a significant impact in the team's Divisional Round Game against Detroit. Kancey made several critical plays in the first half to hold Detroit to 10 points, including a third-down pass deflection on the Lions' first possession that led to a subsequent three-and-out, and a third-down sack on the Lions' last drive of the half. On the latter, Kancey quickly shot past right guard Graham Glasgow with elite burst and a lethal cross-chop move to force a punt.

"Well, it's tough because it's such a passing league right now," said Todd Bowles at the NFL Scouting Combine. "They're kind of limiting you to press coverage and man to man, where you can't put your hands on them as much. You [have] to try to do things to try to fool the quarterback, or the offensive line, or the receivers, or somebody. You [have] to show pressure, sometimes bring it, sometimes not bring it. I think sometimes it's up, sometimes it's down, but if you have a good feel for how you line up, you can create things off of the same looks, I think it helps you some, but you [have] to have players to execute it."

Everything works hand-in-hand. The defensive line's ability to affect the quarterback in the pocket creates errant throws and advantageous scenarios for the secondary and allows linebackers to roam. It is a copy-cat league, and, in a pass-heavy world, offenses have created a multitude of ways to try and mitigate the rush, including dialing up a quick passing attack so the ball leaves the quarterback's hands nearly immediately to a weapon in the flat or the intermediate area. Everyone remembers the master gameplan that Todd Bowles devised in Super Bowl LV, making Patrick Mahomes and company look mortal by achieving pressure with four. That opened up pass coverage dominance in Cover-2 and 2-Man looks. For Tampa Bay in 2024, being able to achieve constant pressure from a variety of packages without actually blitzing will open up Bowles' back of tricks and solidify the team.

Scott's X-Factor No. 4: Liam Coen's play-calling.

With Dave Canales needing just one fine season as the Buccaneers' offensive coordinator to springboard to a head coaching job in Carolina, there's a new mind guiding Tampa Bay's attack in 2024. That mind belongs to Liam Coen, who has roots in the Sean McVay Rams' system and has installed an offense that his players raving. The run game, in particular, has appeared to have a revival after finishing last in the NFL in each of the past two seasons.

The team is abounding with optimism that Coen's offense, which features a lot more pre-snap shifts and motion, plus multiple play calls for the quarterback to choose from and a wider variety of run types, is going to be effective in 2024. Still, this fact remains: This is Coen's first time calling plays at the NFL level. He was a coordinator under McVay for a season in Los Angeles, but McVay calls the shots on game day. Coen also coordinated two very good offenses at Kentucky in 2021 and 2023.

Coen being in his first season as an NFL play-caller is by no means a reason to worry. He has been preparing for this job since his youth. However, it is an unknown, which makes it undoubtedly one of the X-Factors we've been trying to identify for the 2024 season. What tendencies will he show in certain situations, like third-and-short or first-and-goal? Will his decision to give Baker Mayfield more control at the line pay off? How fervently will he stick to the run game if it starts out slowly?

Frankly, Coen's presence is one reason to be optimistic about the Bucs' 2024 season. As well as Mayfield and the Buccaneers' offense performed for large parts of last season, there are still obvious areas where improvement is not only possible but likely. Still, until we see a month or two of how it operates under Coen, we won't know how much of a difference his play-calling will make.