The Bucs came into Sunday afternoon facing the Falcons in a big mid-season matchup to determine how the NFC South will shake out this season. Tampa Bay continued its creamsicle curse, losing to Atlanta 31-26 to fall to 4-4. Despite another lackluster performance, there were a couple of silver linings of players who impressed.

Here are the most impressive players from the Bucs’ Week 8 loss to the Falcons:

TE Cade Otton

Bucs TE Cade Otton – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Cade Otton did his best Rob Gronkowski impression on Sunday afternoon. Donning the creamsicle uniforms, older fans may even say that he looked like Jimmie Giles in the way he rocked No. 88. Without Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, Otton was Baker Mayfield’s No. 1 option in the passing game, and the tight end stepped up in a major way.

His first big play was hauling in a 5-yard touchdown pass to put the Bucs’ first points of the day on the scoreboard. Then on the following drive, he was the main source of offense.

It started with a gritty catch where he fought hard for the first down by picking up 11 yards. Then, he found space up the middle of the field and made some guys miss, picking up 29 more yards. The icing on the cake was making two more catches, including an impressive 9-yard grab on third-and-6 to keep what would end up a 97-yard touchdown drive going.

In the fourth quarter, the “tough as nails” tight end came through again with his second touchdown, making it a 31-26 game.

On the day, Otton had nine catches on 10 targets for 81 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

RB Bucky Irving

Bucs RB Bucky Irving – Photo by: USA Today

There was a lot of intrigue about how the Bucs’ offense would look relying on a suddenly productive run game. In a running back room filled with talented rushers, Bucky Irving was the best one on Sunday afternoon.

Irving continually made Falcons’ defenders miss, showing impressive vision cutting back on runs to get extra yards. Just when you think he’s down, he finds another gear. That led to him averaging 4.9 yards per carry, finishing the game with nine carries for 44 rushing yards and adding seven receptions for 40 receiving yards.

DT C.J. Brewer

Who saw this coming?

C.J. Brewer ended up being one of the most impressive Bucs’ defenders by recording the first two sacks of his NFL career. The first one for Brewer came easily, as he was credited with one on a weird play where Kirk Cousins attempted to run the ball toward the right sideline. There was no doubting his second takedown of Cousins, as he securely wrapped him up and brought him down.

After sneaking onto the team after initially being one of the final cuts after the preseason, Brewer was quickly elevated and made the most of his chance with the game of his life on Sunday afternoon. He displayed enough pass-rushing chops to get into the defensive tackle rotation, even when Greg Gaines soon returns from injury.

OC Liam Coen

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and OC Liam Coen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Liam Coen had a tough task of keeping the Bucs offense afloat after losing two of his best playmakers. Coen needed to formulate an offensive gameplan unlike any other this season, one predicated on getting the run game going early and then sprinkling in the remaining depth wide receivers. With his work cut out for him, the results were better than expected.

The offense tallied 432 total yards, finished 9-of-13 on third downs, and had no problem moving the ball down the field. The unit’s downfall was the inability to put up points in crucial moments, with Baker Mayfield’s two interceptions at midfield and at Atlanta’s 24 coming back to bite them.

Scoring on one or both of those possessions could have changed the game’s outcome. With that said, the team’s biggest problems do not lie on this side of the football.

NCB Christian Izien

Admittedly, it’s hard to put any defensive players on this list after another disappointing game. Christian Izien was the other bright spot on the unit, though. Izien, filling in for Tykee Smith, led the team with eight total tackles and had two tackles for loss. He was a steady contributor who stayed involved.

CB Zyon McCollum

Zyon McCollum deserves a brief shoutout for his performance as well. McCollum did not make any big plays, but he stopped wide receiver Drake London, who torched the defense with 12 catches for 154 receiving yards and a touchdown back in Week 5. The young cornerback did not let that happen again and limited London to just four catches for 34 receiving yards.