Bucs safety Antoine Winfield had reason to celebrate.
The Bucs had just tied the game at 35-35 after Baker Mayfield hit his old pal Sterling Shepard with an 11-yard touchdown pass.
There was 1:08 left.
The Bucs defense was ready to take the field. Or were they?
The Bucs defense had been carved up throughout the second half. Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold looked like Payton Manning. The Bucs had no answer for him.
Darnold looked like he was playing flag football. Rarely any pressure. Dudes wide open like the proverbial deer in an Illinois cornfield.
It was sickening.
And maybe no one was more peeved that Bucs icon Lavonte David.
“All 11 guys out there were p!ssed off because we were in that situation,” David said. “We shot ourselves in the foot the whole game.
“We weren’t making plays. We weren’t playing our caliber of defense. They were capitalizing on what we did.”
David and Antoine Winfield got on the defense: Now was the time to close the door and win the game. Now was the time to get a turnover, somehow, someway. The team needed every man on the field to do his job.
“It was a moment to rise,” David said. “Somebody had to rise. Everybody had that attitude.
“That’s what I love about this football team. It is a resilient group. It wasn’t over until the game was over. Today was a day I made a play.”
Winfield, who David said hurried Darnold that affect his throw, told the defense they had a simple task.
“Somehow, someway,” Winfield said. “I said, ‘Hey, it’s the two-minute [defense]. We run this everyday. So let’s make a play. Let’s make it happen.’
And [David’s pick] is what happened.
Joe told Winfield that David is convinced Winfield affected Darnold’s throw. Winfield waved away the praise.
“I was doing my job,” Winfield said. “I was just wanting to win the game any way I can contribute.”
And because Winfield and David made a play at a critical time in the game, the Bucs, ravaged by injuries, are 4-1 and stole a win.
As a result, it is the Seahawks who are now sleepless in Seattle. The Bucs will rest well this evening over getting the job done.