Defense is a reactionary endeavor.

It's fun for coordinators to draw up sundry coverages and blitzes and stunts — all the tricks that help defenses gain an upper hand in a game stacked against it — but even the best-laid plans can result in disastrous consequences.

And that can happen even when players perform exactly as instructed.

One of those situations affected the Tigers' defense against LSU two weeks ago. On a 2nd-and-6, a down and distance with a heavy pass tendency for LSU, Auburn coordinator dialed up a safety blitz from the strong side. The gamble itself wasn't a poor decision; LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is elite when throwing without pressure and merely very good when facing the blitz.

Anything that helps is a good thing.

Yet LSU added some complexity to this call by aligning in a tight bunch set, which is confusing in an of itself from a defensive perspective. That's three receivers in a five-yard clump and, yeah, that creates extra coverage hurdles.

One of those hurdles created a problem. Here's how it looked on paper:

The blitzer is 24 Daniel Thomas. He creeps forward before the snap to gain momentum, times the snap reasonably well and takes a good, disciplined path to the quarterback. He's outside to provide containment support, but he's also getting depth so he can re-trace if the quarterback scrambles for cover.

The problem here, as you can see with the blue and yellow circle above, is that Thomas' blitz path is cutting through that slot receiver's inside-releasing rote. The potential now exists for a collision. That's almost certainly bad news for Auburn if it occurs.

Here's how it looked in real time:

Thomas actually bisects 6 Christian Tutt's jam. It's incredible.

So that ends Tutt's engagement prematurely and the slot receiver uses that mistake to get two steps ahead of Tutt, who isn't able to make up the lost ground. The play was LSU's second-longest pass of the game — and prefaced a crucial touchdown.

Is this just bad luck for Auburn? Yes. However, it perhaps could have been avoided. When LSU aligned in a bunch, that necessitated an immediate defensive (coverage) check. There are contingency calls devised just for these kinds of situations. A "switch" call changes the blitzer's identity (i.e. corner or nickel or 'backer) or a "slide" call to leave the predetermined blitzer's role unchanged but to alter the gap and/or angle taken.

Alternatively, the blitz can be aborted altogether.

Blitzing into a bunch is tricky.

Bottom line: Thomas' blitz call wasn't adjusted. Whether that's a missed call on Thomas' part or simply a call that wasn't initiated is a detail lost to history. Even the smallest details can undermine a defense's effectiveness. It's a tough job.

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