The 2008 "Who needs to step up" thread

[vallin21]

1. Taylor Jason The whole defense is based on pass rush. If we can get to the Quarterback the secondary will look like Sean Taylor was never here.
1B Jason Cambell could easily be #1 on this list. This is a boom or bust year for him.The whole season arguably rests on his arm, health and knowledge of the west coast.
2. The wide receivers( manly Moss because he really has done nothing after his pro bowl year in 05 and the rookie Wideouts Thomas and Kelley.
3. Reed Doughty or Stuart Schweigert no matter what you cannot replace or erase what Sean Taylor brought to the redskins. He made everyone on that defense better. With that said Doughty or Schweigert must complent Landry to allow him to play centerfield and stop the run.

[Beemnseven]

If Randle El would just make some things happen as a punt returner I'd be happy. He's been ho-hum as a returner since Day One as a Redskin. Also, give him the slash type role that everyone thinks he can excel at -- just to make things chaotic for the opposing D.

Jason Taylor needs to step right in and make some noise early. Don't go Dana Stubblefield on us.

C. Griffin needs to stay healthy, if he goes down for any length of time our run defense would be hurtin'.

Doc Walker had an interesting point on Jon Jansen. Since he's missed two complete seasons to a ruptured Achilles and a broken leg, that's two years of wear and tear the rest of his body hasn't taken. So he should actually be fresher than most of the O-linemen his age who haven't had season ending injuries.

[4mrusmc]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

To me Randle El really doesn't need to step up cause he's only a #3 WR to begin with. He's never been nothing more then that his whole career.

True, he is only a #3 wideout perpetrating as a #2, but he needs to be more productive. They need to earn the salary that they are getting. And IMO they haven't been. Their lack of touchdowns last year was pretty pathetic. And Randle El really didn't light it up receiving punts either.

[GridIron26]

Originally Posted by vallin21

1B Jason Cambell could easily be #1 on this list. This is a boom or bust year for him.The whole season arguably rests on his arm, health and knowledge of the west coast.

I would not necessary say JC is a bust if he fails to follow up with the hype this year.. This is his 3rd offense in 4 years career; this is not very easy to do.. However I do expect him to control and win the game, that's all he needs to do this year.. Nothing more.. If he does more that, then that's great..

[marius]

Originally Posted by vallin21

1B Jason Cambell could easily be #1 on this list. This is a boom or bust year for him.The whole season arguably rests on his arm, health and knowledge of the west coast.

It may be the easy answer but I cannot believe that JC is not top of everyone's list. Clearly this is a team game and no one man can do it all without help but the Skins season rests more on how JC performs than any other individual. I don't think it's boom or bust but he needs to build on last season. He's shown plenty of promise and has the physical tools, now is the season for him to step up. If he doesn't, we are heading for bottom of the East. If he does then the playoffs and then who knows!

Otherwise, Rogers needs to prove himself as at least a good no.2 CB and ideally a no.1 CB. In his case, this season really is boom or bust.

The worrying thing is that the team and specifically JC has to hit the ground running as with the opening schedule we have there is no time to have few wobbly games getting up to speed, otherwise we might find ourselves 1-4 and 0-3 in the division.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by marius

It may be the easy answer but I cannot believe that JC is not top of everyone's list.

Read the first line of Matty's first post in this thread

[Soup's Uncle]

That's my worry. If we start 0-3, it's gonna be a tough season.

[GridIron26]

Originally Posted by marius

Otherwise, Rogers needs to prove himself as at least a good no.2 CB and ideally a no.1 CB. In his case, this season really is boom or bust.

How can he really prove himself this year? After all, he tore his ACL.. It takes a year to recover 100%..

[hesscl34]

Originally Posted by GridIron26

How can he really prove himself this year? After all, he tore his ACL.. It takes a year to recover 100%..

He tore it last year, mid season. The dude needs to step up and do his job.. I swear, he angers me just watching him play.

[vallin21]

Originally Posted by hesscl34

He tore it last year, mid season. The dude needs to step up and do his job.. I swear, he angers me just watching him play.

I kind of agree with you to a point. The ACL tear was not his fault, but even before that he hasn't shown why we drafted him with the 9th overall pick back in 05.

[GridIron26]

Originally Posted by hesscl34

He tore it last year, mid season. The dude needs to step up and do his job.. I swear, he angers me just watching him play.

I'm not saying that he doesn't need to step up his game.. In fact, I agree with you - he definitely needs to step up big time.. However what I am saying is we have to give him few months before we can expect big things from him due to his ACL..

[21 Forever]

How about someone thats not a player...maybe the training staff, then we can stay healthy or get healthy quicker when we need to! but seriously:

Moss- We saw flashes of it last year, so as long as he's healthy I don't see him having a problem stepping up and playing like he did in 2005.

Betts- Portis had a great year last year and I know it wasn't his best with the team. However, we need our spell back to get production like the 2006 season when he's in the game so that Portis can stay healthy by not getting too many touches each game. I mean seriously, Ladell got two runs in a row from the one yard line and got stuffed on both last year (you know what I'm talking about and notice we didn't see too much of him anymore).

DB's- I know Landry showed what he can do at the end of last year and Doughty is turning out to be a phenomenal SS. But even so, between them and the corners we need to get more turnovers. I know numbers increased again last year but we need more production by not just more INT's but how about some FF's, too.