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Buccaneers to use up-tempo offense under new OC

The Tampa Bay version of Lovie Smith is adamant that his offense runs fast.

Last offseason, Smith made it clear that his year sabbatical allowed him to reform his view of how offenses are dictated. His handpicked coordinator Jeff Tedford would run the ball and move the offense with pace.

Unfortunately, Tedford never got to employ his plan, due to medical issues. With a backup play-caller, the Buccaneers' offense never moved at the pace Smith seemingly desired.

With Dirk Koetter running the offense in 2015, the Bucs finally will be able to unleash their pace plan.

"A guy that just, you know, he loves, loves fast tempo, loves to get the ball up field," offensive tackle Demar Dotson said of Koetter, via JoeBucsFan.com. "He loves to go a lot of no-huddle. That's going to be something that's more different than what we're used to. So it's going to be a lot of up-tempo stuff. You know, so that's something he loves doing. It's got its ups and downs, but I'm looking forward to being a part of it."

Last season with the Atlanta Falcons, Koetter ran the sixth-fastest offense in the NFL, per Football Outsiders' pace stats.

While both Koetter and Smith want to play fast in 2015, their ability to perform with pace will be dictated by how quickly Jameis Winston picks up the system.