The message to Joe directly and to Bucs fans in general couldn't be clearer.

It was the night after the Bucs lost to the Crows. And in the same game, the Bucs lost Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. There is your offense.

The Bucs' locker room felt like a funeral. The players appeared “shocked”.

The few who spoke were parroting an old, overused, if not empty, cliché. “It’s next man up.” As Joe told one player, “Well, the next man up isn’t a Hall of Fame receiver.”

Tight end Cade Otton, one of the nicest guys Joe ever dealt with, didn't believe in the “next man up” line.

Joe asked Otton a question and told Otton that many of his teammates said, “It's next man up.” Otton didn't want to hear that. For the first time, Joe saw Otton struggle. He's too polite to walk away, but he wanted to.

Otton stared Joe straight in the eyes and said with a clenched jaw, “We all must step up.” And boy, did Otton ever do his part?

Over the past two weeks, Otton has put up some of the league's best numbers for tight ends – 17 catches for 181 yards and 2 touchdowns. You could say Otton is Baker Mayfield's best receiver and No. 1 target until Mike Evans returns.

Joe asked Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen about Otton's rise last week. Coen couldn't say enough good things.

“When you look at him, you see this exact model of a kid, you know, All-American Boy,” Coen said. Otton is “one of the best people I've ever met, but he's tough.” He's a tough football player.

“He rose to the challenge. He made the plays when they could present themselves.”

Coen said a few words about Otton being tough. In the loss to the Crows, Otton, as Mike Ditka once said, was exhausted. He was hit hard and every time Otton got up like it was no big deal.

If Otton hit 97 percent of the attacking shots last year, it wasn't an indication that Otton was tough, but the loss to the Crows certainly was.