Through the first 11 weeks of the 2024 season, which for Tampa Bay ended in its bye week, the Buccaneers were running the football quite well, particularly in comparison to where that ground game was in the previous two years. After finishing both 2022 and 2023 dead last in rushing yards per game and yards per carry, the Buccaneers essentially had a top-10 rushing attack through that bye week. Tampa Bay ranked 10th in yards per game (125.3), fifth in yards per carry (4.91) and tied for ninth in runs of 10-plus yards (38).

Those numbers, if maintained through the end of the season, would have easily supported the case that first-year Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen had met his number-one goal for 2024 in getting that ground game back on track. Of course, the Buccaneers were also 4-6 at the time and mired in a four-game losing streak, so there wasn't much thought to celebrating any particular part of the team's on-field operations.

Since coming back from the bye week, the Buccaneers have won five of six games to reassert control over the NFC South. One more win on Sunday against the Saints will give Tampa Bay its fourth straight division title. And one of the main reasons for that turnaround has been a ground game that went from quite good to nearly unstoppable since Week 12.

In that span, the Buccaneers have averaged 184.0 rushing yards per game (third in the NFL) and 5.55 yards per carry (second), and have exploded for 30 runs of 10-plus yards (second). The team's explosive-run rate remained almost exactly the same from Weeks 1-11 to Weeks 12-7 – ticking up just a bit from 15.0% to 15.1% – but since the Bucs have upped their carries per game from 25.3 (23rd) to 33.2 (fifth), the overall production has gone through the roof.

According to Coen, one of the reasons for the Bucs' even better rushing success down the stretch has been more reliance on gap scheme runs, which take more time to perfect than some other options like duo or mid- and wide-zone.

"I think you look at maybe how we've shifted schematically, in ways, to a little bit more of the gap schemes and the pullers," he said. "That takes a lot of time to get good at. What we've learned is that it takes time – not just walk-through reps out here. You can walk through zone all you want and get probably decent at it. But when you're doing the pulling and you're really going full speed on those pulls and having to adjust on the move and the different creases that it creates, it's not always perfect."

For an example of a well-executed gap scheme run, take rookie Bucky Irving's 34-yard scamper midway through the second quarter of last Sunday's 48-14 romp over the Panthers. On the play, Irving lines up behind Baker Mayfield, who is in the shotgun, behind a line that has tight end Payne Durham attached to the left edge. Running back Rachaad White lines up in the slot to the right between receivers Jalen McMillan and Mike Evans, then goes in motion in front of Mayfield just before the snap. Mayfield hands off to Irving, who immediately veers to the right. Center Graham Barton pulls from his spot and runs right, blocking linebacker DJ Johnson to set the edge for the running back. Left tackle Tristan Wirfs pulls all the way down the line and around Barton, becoming a lead blocker for Irving and eventually running interference on both linebacker Chandler Wooten and defensive end LaBryan Ray, who are trying to cut into the rush lane from the middle of the field. With Evans locking up cornerback Mike Jackson outside the numbers, Irving has a clear lane to dash through and he isn't even touched until the end of the run.

It's a tightly-choreographed play. Barton and Wirfs have to get out in front of Irving quickly, while Durham, and guards Ben Bredeson and Cody Mauch are picking off defenders in backside pursuit. Not every gap play is going to work that well, but enough have in the last six weeks to push the Bucs' ground game over the top.

"They have to figure it out," said Coen. "That takes live repetition. That takes scrimmage reps. And we weren't really repping that stuff that much when we got here. So it's been an evolution of, 'OK, who have we become?' But it also takes time and reps to get good at anything, but specifically gap schemes. There's a lot of moving parts that go with them, and your line is moving a lot more than they are on the zone scheme. So I do think time, repetition, and maybe finding out more who we are and who we were trying to be took a little bit longer than I would have liked."

For the season as a whole, the Buccaneers rank fourth in rushing yards per game, which if maintained would equal their highest finish ever, in 1998. With all three of Irving, White and Sean Tucker averaging between 4.3 and 6.1 yards per carry, the team overall is almost certain to break the franchise record in that category. The Bucs record is 4.75 yards per carry, set in 2015, and with one game to go the 2024 squad is at 5.21. It may have taken a little while to get that ground game fully into gear, but it couldn't happened at a better time.