TAMPA — A year ago, the Bucs were prisoners of their own delay of game. They were always sluggish at the start of the first quarter.

Tampa Bay did not score a touchdown on its first possession of the ball in 2023. Not once in 19 games, including the playoffs, did Baker Mayfield lead his team into the end zone on the opening drive.

If new offensive coordinator Liam Coen can fix anything, it’s this. The Bucs’ efficient offense was the main result of their 24-14 victory over the Dolphins in the final preseason game on Friday.

The Bucs won the coin toss, took the football, and needed just seven plays to move 70 yards for a touchdown.

Mayfield was incredibly accurate, completing all three of his pass attempts for 54 yards, including a 28-yard pass near the right sideline to rookie receiver Jalen McMillan, who managed to get his elbow into the field of play.

Running back Rachaad White, who also made his season debut on Friday, ran four times for 16 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown run. He also caught a pass from Mayfield in the left flat and carried it 17 yards.

“I mean, we talked about it all offseason that we need to get off to a faster start,” Mayfield said. “We’re going to have a great defense, so it was important for us to get going early and set the tone. We need to be efficient from the start. We don’t need to wait and get punched in the face and figure things out and adjust from there. We need to be efficient and still adjust afterward. But yeah, that was important to us.”

That’s exactly what the Bucs were hoping for from Coen. The former Rams and Kentucky offensive coordinator brought a system that gives Mayfield the opportunity to get the Bucs to make the right play at the line of scrimmage.

It’s no secret that while Dave Canales helped the Bucs win the NFC South as offensive coordinator a year ago before being named head coach of the Panthers, he hadn’t called plays since his days at Carson High School in California, which showed his inexperience.

After Friday’s opening touchdown and after the Bucs defense forced a three-and-out, Bowles had seen enough of his starters.

“The plays were fine. I thought everything went smoothly,” Bowles said. “They came out and tried to establish continuity from the beginning. That’s what we wanted. The communication was clear and we really executed.”

“They wanted to play longer, but I had seen enough. And since I had two weeks to prepare for the first game, I just wanted to see continuity.”

For the second straight season, the Bucs ranked last in rushing last season. Under Coen, Mayfield has more authority to change the game at the line of scrimmage. There’s a lot of waffle, as with most West Coast offenses, but Coen’s system has produced results quickly.

“It’s more mentally demanding and stressful on the guys at the beginning,” Mayfield said last week during a break in practice in Jacksonville. “But once you understand what we’re trying to accomplish, they can play a lot more freely because they know exactly what we’re supposed to do and how we’re going to go about it.”

Although most of the Dolphins’ regulars had the night off, the Bucs built a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. White carried the first three plays for 12 yards and a first down. Then Mayfield released the ball.

He completed three consecutive passes: a block to Chris Godwin for 9 yards, a pass to the left flat to White for 17 yards and the deep shot to McMillan for 28 yards to the Miami 4.

“Obviously, you just have to throw him a pass, one-on-one, a contested catch, and you don’t have to make a perfect throw when a guy throws that high,” Mayfield said. “I talked about his body control and some of the things he does naturally that you can’t teach him. That was a good example of that.”

“Teams have to decide how they want to defend us. You can’t just put a safety over Mike (Evans) every time. We’re dangerous and I’m confident where we are.”

White got the handoff and ran straight into the end zone, virtually unchallenged, and scored a touchdown. That was it for Mayfield and the entire Bucs offense.

Kyle Trask had to leave the game as quarterback John Wolford was nursing rib injuries. Trask did a good job moving the Bucs around, catching passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns. After one series, the Bucs emptied their bench. A number of rookies stood out. Receiver Kameron Johnson had a couple of endarounds for 13 yards. He also caught three passes. Tanner Knue and Ryan Miller each had TD receptions.

Rookie outside linebacker Chris Braswell, the Bucs’ second-round pick out of Alabama, had a sack for a 9-yard loss. CJ Brewer had two tackles, including a tackle for a loss, a pass defensed and a quarterback hit.

“The more he plays, the more confident he feels and he’s getting everything right,” Bowles said. “He’s improving his technique and starting to play faster, and that’s what we want to see.”

Now there are some difficult decisions to make as the Bucs reduce their roster to 53 players.

“When you have a good team,” Bowles said, “the decisions are obviously more difficult.”

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