The Alabama Crimson Tide offense struggled at times against top defenses in 2018, with QB Tua Tagovailoa getting banged up on a number of crucial occasions.

On Tuesday, coach Nick Saban was asked about changing the offense to better protect Tagovailoa and, unsurprisingly, he took issue with the question.

As you can see below, he said sometimes it’s going to be up to Tagovailoa to protect himself by getting rid of the ball sooner:

“I mean, we could send him in ‘protect’ every time and send three guys out (on routes) so they can double-cover them,” he said. “To me, it’s the responsibility of the quarterback sometimes to protect himself. … We’re going to do the things we think we need to do to help our team win and help Tua be successful. Sometimes, you have to know when to throw the ball away when things break down. You can’t make a play out of every play. We’ve got to be smart about that.”

Saban then goes on to lament all the rule changes in the NFL, saying he doesn’t think it’s possible to completely protect the quarterback at all times.

Based on that, we’ll see if Tagovailoa responds by taking less risks in 2019.