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My Man Greg

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Greg Blache is THE MAN!! The way he left Trevor Matich stuttering (and called him out on it) made me want to suit up for the guy. Last week I talked about him being old school, and this is another example. He has been in charge of some pretty damned good defenses, yet he doesn't get the pub other DC's do. I think this is why. It's the Art Monk factor. He doesn't like schmoozing with the media, so they think of him as some crotchety old guy who doesn't know what he's talking about. Well, I learned more about the ins and outs of pass rushing from his 3 minute dressing down of Matich than I ever did from any statements made by any DC that's ever been here. It reminded me a lot of Richie Pettibone, when he used to talk about disguising secondary matchups.

Blache pointed out that they were in a short yardage defense, and Brady audibled out of his initial play to take advantage. Now I know this isn't earth-shattering information, I'm sure most of us understand the continuous chess game between the QB and the defense. But, when you take a step back and look at it, we DO hold individual guys, or units, accountable for certain things sometimes that just simply didn't go their way. Like D. Hall said (and many before him), both sides get paid to make plays, so you're gonna come out on the wrong side sometimes. As far as the 3rd down call, if anything it shows the value of having versatile guys on defense who can change up assignments on the fly. As good as our D-line should be this year (fingers crossed), we're not at that level yet. We have one Sampson-esque DE who is a roadblock for the running game, and one feather weight DE who specialized in pass rushing. Again, I know this is nothing new, and plenty of teams are in the same mold, but it just shows the difference between the good and great defenses. The great ones have 11 guys who can stay on the field on pretty much any situation. I know that's oversimplifying it a bit, but that's basically true to form.

As for Blache, I just like the way he handles the media. He's not worried about etiquette, he's clearly never taken the coach's "Speaking to the Media 101" course, and he doesn't care what people think about him. AND he stands up for his players, which is really what that whole thing was about. Maybe I'm alone on this, but I found the whole thing pretty refreshing. Definitely a tad different than Zorns "Aw shucks" routine.

Blache's verbal beatdown of Matich >>

[Image via voices.washingtonpost.com]