Much of what the Bucs defense did in Sunday’s 38-35 win over the Seahawks in Seattle was painful to watch.

Receivers ran free for big plays down the field. The Seattle run game found success early and often. And dropback after dropback, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold found himself with time to throw. He sat in a comfortable pocket and the Bucs failed to generate much pressure to disrupt him and get him off schedule. They didn’t sack him once, and they only hit him twice.

That led to an afternoon that saw Darnold throw for 341 yards and four touchdowns on 28-of-34 passing.

Seahawks QB Sam Darnold – Photo by: USA Today

But if there was only going to be moment in which the defense could get some pressure on Darnold and force him into a mistake, the Bucs found the right one.

Just after the Buccaneers offense tied the game at 35 with 1:08 to go, Todd Bowles’ defense took the field. It was easy to feel like things were setting up for a heartbreaking last-second loss, one that would end with the defense letting Darnold drive the Seahawks into field goal territory to set Jason Myers up for a potential game-winner.

But that’s not what happened.

Instead, on the second play of the Seattle drive, Antoine Winfield Jr. came flying in on a blitz. Darnold got the ball out with Winfield closing in, only he threw off balance and the pass glanced off the helmet of Logan Hall and into the waiting arms of veteran linebacker Lavonte David, who hauled in the interception that set up the eventual game-winning field goal from Chase McLaughlin.

It was the perfect blitz at the perfect time, and it paid off exactly the way Bowles had dreamed it would.

Todd Bowles: Bucs Saved That Game-Changing Blitz “For A Rainy Day”

So, how did that blitz-turned-interception play out in Todd Bowles’ eyes? He explained it after the game in his post-game press conference.

“We were saving that blitz for a rainy day, and we brought it out,” Bowles said. “We’ve been running it a lot, and we didn’t run it the entire game. Everybody was waiting on it and it finally came. [Lavonte] made the veteran play that he made, and he caught the ball just like [Jamel] Dean did [two weeks ago], which he had trouble in practice catching them. It was a heck of a ball game, and for our leader to step up and make that play was huge.”

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

It’s fair to wonder where a blitz like that was when the Bucs were dying for a stop time and again throughout the game, right? Each time Seattle scored, Baker Mayfield and the offense kept grabbing the lead right back, and a third-down sack and stop from the Buccaneers defense could’ve kept the momentum rolling, negating the need for more late-game heroics and a fourth win in the final minute in five weeks.

If you were wondering where the pressure on Darnold was all afternoon, you weren’t the only one. Trent Green, who was on the call for CBS with play-by-play man Kevin Harlan, clearly was, too. And that led to what was a perfectly timed moment in which he, thinking out loud, wondered if Todd Bowles would bring the blitz on that final drive or sit back in coverage.

“Well, the Buccaneers like to blitz. That’s something they’ve done all year,” Green said just before the Seahawks’ 2nd & 2 play with 58 seconds to go. “Let’s see if they bring some pressure here or just allow Darnold to sit back there.”

From there?

Snap. Winfield blitz.

Pressure. Off-balance throw.

Deflection. Interception.

You can skip to 1:51 here to watch and listen as that serendipitous sequence unfolds:

The lack of pressure all day was painful for sure. But what a moment for Todd Bowles to break out that timely blitz, and what a job by the Buccaneers defense to execute it.

Sometimes, all it takes is the right call at the right time, and that’s what unfolded in Seattle on Sunday afternoon for this 4-1 Tampa Bay team.