There's a hidden layer to the Bucs' season that has been a major key to their success

Football games are obviously won on the field. In-between the sidelines and along the hashes.

But, what happens behind the scenes often makes or breaks a team's chances of winning its upcoming game. While players ultimately matter, good coaching is massively important. If a coaching staff doesn't know what it's doing then a roster will never reach it's full potential - no matter how talented it may be.

So far for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, it's safe to say the coaching staff has been integral (outside of special teams of course) to the team's success. Especially wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon, who is getting some well-deserved, public love after the Bucs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.

McClendon has been the key behind mitigating the Bucs' wide receiver injuries

The Bucs lost Jalen McMillan to a neck injury during the preseason and the expectation is he won't return until after the halfway point of the season. Chris Godwin missed the first three games before developing a new injury in Week 5 that caused him to miss this past Sunday. Mike Evans injured his hamstring in Week 3 against the New York Jets and has yet to return.

It doesn't stop there, either. Emeka Egbuka joined the list with his own injured hamstring on Sunday, potentially leaving the Bucs without their Top-4 options at WR heading into Monday Night Football against the Lions.

Yet, the passing game continues to roll along as the backups continue to step up and make plays. McClendon is the driving force behind all of it and has easily been one of the league's best assistant coaches through the first six weeks of the season.

We saw it with Tez Johnson and Kameron Johnson against the 49ers. Ryan Miller had his moment in Week 2 against the Houston Texans. Sterling Sharpe looks he's 25 again and is currently second on the team with 242 receiving yards.

"When it comes to our guys, just the communication, our receivers coach, 'B-Mac' [Bryan McClendon], getting those guys right throughout the week," Baker Mayfield told reporters when asked how he navigates the injuries at wide receiver. "You never know what can happen and those guys stepping up in a huge way, and [it 's] just hats off to them for being prepared and not shying away, not flinching when they're in there."

The numbers speak for themselves. Per Stathead, the Bucs and the Kansas City Chiefs are the only teams to have four wideouts with at least 112 receiving yards and one touchdown. The Bucs are the only team in the NFL that has six wideouts with at least one receiving touchdown.

And again, McClendon has helped make this happen, in large part, without his best players. Sure, it takes Mayfield and the rest of the offense to make it happen on the field, but McClendon is setting all this up and putting in it place throughout the week. It's clear he's making a major impact and it's helped the Bucs get though an awful stretch of injuries to their top players.

We'll see what McClendon has in store for Week 7, as this could be a game where Evans, Godwin Jr., Egbuka, and McMillan are all out. If he can make chicken salad out of this, well, then big things are in store for his future.