Nick Saban defends Jimbo Fisher on final Texas A&M play call

The 2022 rematch between Alabama and Texas A&M certainly lived up to the hype. The Tide outlasted the Aggies on the final play of the game, where A&M QB Haynes King missed on a throw in the front corner of the end zone. After the game, upset fans blasted head coach Jimbo Fisher for the play-call that ultimately lost them the game.

However, Nick Saban came to his former assistant’s defense. Despite the testy summer between the two, Saban defended Fisher on a play-call that most of the country criticized.

Here was Saban on his Coach’s Show this week, explaining why it’s too simple to judge a play-call only by the result.

“Well look it goes with the territory. Whatever you call that works, like you say, what we did on defense was a good call. It was a good call because it worked, because they executed it. Yeah, well, but anything that doesn’t work in a situation like that, everybody thinks is a bad call, right? Does that make sense? No.”

A successful play requires both a good play-call and, more importantly, execution of that play-call. So perhaps it was an execution issue for Texas A&M, not one of play-calling, on that final play in Tuscaloosa.

“I can’t tell you exactly what Jimbo was coaching his players to do on that play. And did they do it like he wanted it done? I can’t answer that question. So I can’t tell you what their execution was. But, you know, that’s a play that gets called a lot in that situation, you know. And I’m not saying that in a negative way. Because it is a difficult play to defend if you run it correctly.”

But, in the end, Nick Saban’s group executed perfectly on the defensive end when it mattered most to seal the win. Here he was breaking the play down in full detail:

Well, you know, when they scored a touchdown earlier, we were playing them inside-out, trapping the flat thing, thinking that they would some run some kind of pick. As soon as they put four wideouts in the game, we thought they would be similar. So we changed the leverage, you know, on the guys and they worked for us. So, Terrion [Arnold] made a good play and we had the guys covered on the other side pretty well too.”