The old line about special teams coaches in the NFL is that their jobs are time-consuming because, unlike offensive and defensive coordinators, they have to work with every position group on the roster. The drastically altered kickoff format adopted by the NFL this year has made those jobs even more complicated – now they have to know a thing or two about offensive play-calling.

The new kickoff process involves 19 of the 22 players on the field lining up five yards apart from each other and then converging quickly when the return man catches the football. The result is like a really long line of scrimmage with a return man looking for one crease to exploit. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey says the return team blockers and their adversaries on the opposite line have to be aggressive, but not overly aggressive and disciplined at the point of attack to avoid any breakdowns along that long line.

In essence, McGaughey has to solve what has turned into something you would see in an offensive playbook.

"It's a run play," he said, simply. "You have to take care of the gaps. You set the edge. You have to make sure you stay in your gaps. You have to get off blocks – it's a run play. It's a very unique play and every week, literally every snap, you're learnings something new about the play, so it's very interesting."

NFL teams had three preseason games apiece to try to get acclimated to the play, but McGaughey says there is still a lot to learn because teams weren't really breaking out the good stuff. If they found some approaches that worked on the practice field, they didn't want to put them on tape for the teams they will face early in the regular season.

Nevertheless, McGaughey says he reviewed tape of what all the teams in the league did on kickoffs during the preseason. That at least gave him an overall idea of the shape of the play, though various teams are sure to devise their own wrinkles to it.

"Absolutely, we look at each game every week, you know," he said. "It's a lot of snaps but you see a reoccurring thing every week. That's why we kind of come to [those] conclusions. Unless somebody just jumps completely out of the box in the season, I think the play is the play. I can see some people jumping out of the box just because of the personality of our league, but I think, when it comes down to it the play is going to be the play."

Perhaps in part due to the don't-show-your-hand approach to kickoff returns in August, the Buccaneers didn't see many fireworks in their three games. Their longest return was 30 yards, while their opponents topped out with a 45-yarder. Still, the Bucs did see enough from their chosen return men to believe they have the right type of ballcarrier to exploit the new format. Tampa Bay's first depth chart of the season lists rookie running back Bucky Irving and second-year back Sean Tucker as the first two deep, with rookie receivers Kameron Johnson and Jalen McMillan also in consideration.

"All those guys are doing a good job just trying to feel their way through it," said McGaughey. "It's not easy. I think Bucky and some of those guys [have] done a really good job of kind of feeling their way through and just understanding what it is and just, how to play the play and just play football. I mean, like I said, the play is the play, but it is a little different and it happens quicker, and you have to be able to take some shots, because you don't take a shot from time to time because things happen so fast, but again it's interesting and it's fun. It's just been fun to watch."

McGaughey said the average end point of a kickoff return in the NFL this preseason was the 28-yard line. Since a touchback now brings the ball out to the 30, and most teams have kickers capable of generating a lot of touchbacks, there is a prevailing thought that some teams will just take the touchbacks to avoid the possibility of giving up long returns. As McGaughey notes, it takes a good amount of time on the practice field to prepare for the new play, and some organizations may choose to devote their time and resources elsewhere. It sounds like the Bucs, as led by Head Coach Todd Bowles, are willing to put in the time in order to attack the new opportunity aggressively.

"This is a play for us," said McGaughey. Todd knows this is the first play [of] defense – like we're playing defense. It's not something that we're skimping on. We work on it all the time and he gives us plenty of time and plenty of resources too. We [have] who we [have] and we're working with them, and we have some good players. We [have] good length, we have good speed, and we have some guys that are physical, so it'll be fun for us."