The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat their division rival, the Atlanta Falcons, on Sunday, after Atlanta swept them last year. It was also a game where Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers’ coaching staff pulled the ol’ switcheroo on the Falcons.

Starting tackle Tristan Wirfs is out after a knee surgery late in the offseason, and Charlie Heck was to be his replacement. That’s the way the team practiced it since Wirfs left the lineup, and that’s what the Falcons prepared for.

But the Bucs’ coaching staff had other plans. Covert plans. Ultimately, Bowles was happy with the win.

“They fought hard,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “Our job was to fight in the second half any way we can, and we won.”

Bowles and his offensive staff shifted the offensive line assignments. Heck didn’t start, and they moved players around, much to the surprise of Atlanta.

“You guys didn’t know that,” Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield said. “Jokes on you. That’s good stuff.”

Tampa Bay announced the change in the line just before kickoff.

“We knew you guys would have sent that stuff out and the Falcons would have been game planning,” Bucs right tackle Luke Goedeke said. “That’s why we kept it a trade secret.”

Charlie Heck was the starter at left tackle for all three preseason games, and that’s presumably what the Falcons prepared for last week.

The Bucs decided to put their best OL players on the field and to shift them around, and that excluded Heck altogether. The Bucs moved center Graham Barton to left tackle, Ben Bredeson switched from left guard to center and Michael Jordan played guard. It’s a combination that worked.

“We just started messing with it a little bit,” Bowles said. “The more we saw it, the more it started coming into focus. It started out as an emergency, but it started looking better and better and then it just [was] like we probably need to roll with this. It gives us our best chance to win.”

The plan worked, but is it sustainable? Barton played tackle at Duke, but since joining the NFL, all he’s played is center, as was the plan for him all along. And even Barton admitted it’s an adjustment for him.

“It’s definitely an adjustment,” Barton said. “I got a couple of practices at it, so I got a little bit of comfortability with it, but I definitely look forward to watching this tape and looking to improve going into Week 2. It’s a testament to our locker room and the room we have and the chemistry we have as a group,” Barton said. “We’re going to do whatever is asked of us. We are going to do whatever we can to get a win.”

Will they continue with this lineup until Wirfs comes back? Possibly in Week 5? Mayfield would probably be ok with that.

“I thought the O-line played unbelievable,” Mayfield said. “Really proud of that group.”

We’ll find out for sure on Monday Night Football in Week 2 when the Bucs face the Texans.