Saying what's up and a Greg Blache tribute

Hey guys -- Skin Patrol recently honored me by asking if I wanted to jump up to the author position at this site, and I'm flattered to take him up on it. Thanks for having me, and I hope I can provide some good stuff.

Down to business -- my suspicion that Greg Blache is awesome was recently confirmed. Read this story in the Post ... the quotes in this article are completely ridiculous.

Defensive coordinator Greg Blache recently compared Rogers to a "good wine. His time has come. You just watch him. He's grown. It's just like, hey, he's ready to be sipped and savored. He can always get better, but he's got that poise and that confidence..."

"When he goes into the game, Carlos has done his homework," Blache said. "He's a totally different personality in the meeting room and on the field. He's all business. Last year, he was still like a puppy out there, smiling and laughing. But when he walks into the meeting room, there's a coldness, almost like a hit man kind of thing: 'This is where I got to learn. This is what I want to do.' "

A hit man? A fine wine? That's awesome.

Some more random Blache-isms... and there seem to be millions...

"The bottom line in our business is you either make a play, or you don't make a play," Blache said. "There's no half-pregnants; you're either pregnant or you're not. . . . We didn't make the play, and it's not just Leigh. Leigh should have had help. The ball should have had to come out sooner." ...

"Our defense is built like an old automobile," defensive coordinator Greg Blache explained, after his makeshift lineup stymied the Eagles for most of a 23-17 win. "You can buy another water belt or fuel pump or whatever; we don't have all the computer chips."

Hilarious. Zorn and Blache's collective candidness, or just plain silliness if you like, have to be a refreshing approach from the micro-focused Gibbs, the didactic Saunders, and the ruthless Williams.

In the 1970's, George Allen built a winning team in Washington. He assembled the pieces, built the chemistry needed in the locker room, and took his team from bottom-feeders to NFL relevance. It took Joe Gibbs, an unknown coach from the West Coast, to take them to the next level -- a championship-level team.

Does this sound familiar? Proven veteran coach builds the foundation, while a new coach comes in fresh and reinvigorates the team, bringing them to new heights? 

I think that is exactly what Blache and Zorn are doing. Arguing that either of them are "better coaches" than Gibbs and Williams is literally impossible considering the latters' respective bodies of work. And if Zorn and Blache were handed the team the same year Gibbs was, I think everyone would have their doubts as to whether or not they could perform at this level. But Zorn and Blache are the beneficiaries of a hard-working, well-focused group of individuals dying to win. And they've done nothing if not a tremendous job with this team, which struggled to get its identity under Gibbs.

Hail to Blache and Zorn -- let's hope this too-silly-to-be-true tandem can keep working their magic.