Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide have faced plenty of scrutiny since losing 52-49 at Tennessee on Saturday evening.

The defense has come under fire, but also, the offensive play-calling in the buildup to Will Reichard’s missed 50-yard field goal with less than a minute remaining in the fourth quarter has been questioned.

Many wondered why the Tide passed the ball, as drops led to the Vols having time to set up a game-winning field goal of their own.

After the game, Saban explained that, based on the defensive looks Tennessee was showing, the passing game made more sense (via AL.com):

“We were trying to move it closer and we thought they were blitzing and loading the box a lot and we thought we could make plays in the passing game,” Saban said. “Jahmyr (Gibbs) had a chance to make the play. That’s the best thing we did all night. That’s how we thought we could get it closer. When I say that, I don’t mean we should have ran it instead of pass it at all. They were blitzing and we were in empty so we have to throw the ball hot and we didn’t do a good job of that.”

As Saban noted, Gibbs had a pass bounce off his hands in a costly situation and other opportunities to make plays were missed, too.

Hindsight is always 20/20 in these situations, but Alabama’s late-game strategy might need to be re-evaluated moving forward.