But when Redskins owner Dan Snyder called Blache in January and asked him to replace defensive boss Gregg Williams, who not only wasn't going to be promoted to replace retiring head coach Joe Gibbs but was fired, Blache reconsidered and accepted the promotion.

Although the Redskins finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs, Blache is glad he changed his mind, and he plans to keep coaching in 2009.

"This time of year is never a good time to make a decision, when you're tired, and that's what I did last year," Blache said. "It's better for me to wait, but right now, yeah, I'm up for it. It's been fun. It's easy to come to work every day. When you come to work and you trust guys that they're going to line up and compete, and you can trust them with each other and for each other, that's what this business is all about."

Blache's defense finished fourth overall (second to Philadelphia's in the NFC), sixth in points allowed and eighth against the run and the pass although linebackers London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh and free safety LaRon Landry were the only players to start every game.

"In this day and age where it becomes a me-me game, 'Look at me, look at me' kind of deal, to have a group of guys that are unselfish, that can compete and look out for each other, it's refreshing for me," Blache said. "If I had a bunch of look-at-me guys, I'd head for the hills in a heartbeat. Because I'm too old. I'm a dinosaur. I'm from a different age. A lot things that happen in this game (are) not to my liking. But if I have a group like I do, it makes it so much easier and more fun to come to work every day."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I don't think about stuff like that. I'm gonna enjoy my offseason somewhere on some warm island, drinking mojitos." -- CB Shawn Springs, on the prospect of being cut this winter because of his approaching 35th birthday, his seven games on the shelf with leg injuries in 2008 and his $8,485,000 salary-cap figure for 2009.