"It's not my call" (politely)

[mplagrow]

One time a coach harped on me for a travel in my partner's area. What I was thinking was, 'I had no way to see that and wasn't watching for it anyway.' As I was passing him, what I said was, 'It was in his area.' And he responded with, 'Well if you SEE it, BLOW it!' Ultimately, I made a dumb comment without thinking and gave the coach some ammo. Avoid talking about your partner or his area. I've found that a coach can be satisfied with a comment like, 'Sorry, I was watching the action in the lane.' Then you are not directly saying your partner missed it and he knows you were doing your job.