Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

As we look ahead to the 2007 season, who most needs to take that next step in their pro career for the Redskins to be successful (playoffs). For the purposes of this poll, Jason Campbell is not an eligible option because we all know it ultimately rests on his shoulders.

Kedrick Golston
LaRon Landry
Rocky McIntosh
Carlos Rogers
Todd Wade (at LG)
Other (explain)

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Rogers........Big signing, questionable performance

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

I voted Rogers, however, I think they all need to step up. I went with Rogers because he was the 9th overall pick (a pick I didn't like at the time) and he hasn't shown me any reason to believe he'll be a #1 corner. I think he's a lot better than people think, but he's not THAT good. He should be a shut down corner if he's gonna go 9.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Gregg Williams. I think I've been pretty consistent with my critism of him dating back to last season.

Before we start preaching about how he's only the coach and he can't tackle or catch the ball, I want to take it a step further.

Those things are absolutely true. But I think he reacted too slowly with integrating Rocky McIntosh into the starting lineup and making other defensive adjustments. By all accounts, thus far, Rocky could end being a gem. Another thing, how is it that Tiki Barber has a career game against every time he plays against us? Where's the game planning? Where's the mentality, if you beat us it won't be with Tiki rushing for over 200 yrds! Why not make Eli Manning beat you with 40 passes?

In my opinion it's the coaches job to "polish" off the talent that exists. I didn't get that impression from Williams last year. Another thing, defensively we didn't play with any fire or urgency last season. You say this was the players fault. I say they didn't whole heartedly buy into what the staff laid out for them on Sundays. These guys are professionals and they have to strap it on every Sunday, I understand that. It just seemed to me that Williams was more interested in doing post game interviews on Comcast rather than make radical adjusments and hold his staff accountable for poor performance after poor performance.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

I say Rocky. It won't take a lot for him to step it up compared to Holdman, but that was arguably our weakest link last year. Sure Carlos has some improvement to do, but that was nowhere near the ineptitude of Warrick Holdman. If Rocky can at least be MEDIOCRE that'll make a huge difference in our run defense and in turn our reaction to the playaction.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Rogers without question. This is a guy who was drafted ninth overall and to now he has done NOTHING to show for it. 3 interceptions in two seasons. We are not talking about some walk-on scrub this guy was a thorpe award winner. I am sick of him getting burnt. Get up on the line jam the WR's and run with them. I mean he runs a 4.37 god!!!!!!!!!!!1 If he doesn't start doing this, he WILL be riding the bench.

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I voted the whole team. If we look back to last year we could name a few spots or players who had a good year. But now that I think about it maybe the O line was the only part of our team really clicking and hats off to Betts. We need everyone to re-focus and get this thing going.

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I said Wade. Filling the left guard position is CRUTIAL to the offenses success. The Skins can ill afford to have a gaping hole on the left side as pressure up the middle can kill an offensive scheme regardless of how good it may be. If Wade steps in and performs, this offense has a much better chance of being VERY good. If not, the team will struggle until they put in the patchwork to fix a leaky line.

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I voted other... I'm going with a boring response of the entire D.

I'm not too concerned about the offense this year, I think they'll move the ball and score points, but the D really needs to rebound for this team to have any hope of making a playoff run.

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I think Rodgers has alot to prove, he really need's to step it up, last year IMO he played aweful. And this year as it stands if we keep Springs as our #1 which of course he will be if he's with the team and healthy, he better step it up there's some stiff competion at CB. But it's close I also want to see something out of Rocky.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

[QUOTE=jdlea;317456]I voted Rogers, however, I think they all need to step up. I went with Rogers because he was the 9th overall pick (a pick I didn't like at the time) and he hasn't shown me any reason to believe he'll be a #1 corner. I think he's a lot better than people think, but he's not THAT good. He should be a shut down corner if he's gonna go 9.[/QUOTE]

Oh... It... We... have no response. That was perfect

[IMG]http://www.autographedtoyou.com/celebpics/james_carville1.jpg[/IMG]

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

I also think that Landry or whoever plays the other safety starting out is a close second. Holdman and AA were HORRIBLE and the journeymen we got out of FA weren't much better. With better safety play, the overall defense is going to be better.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

I'm so glad to see that most agree with me about Rogers!!!!

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Alex, I'll take Carlos Rogers for $1000 please.

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[quote=hesscl34;317470]I'm so glad to see that most agree with me about Rogers!!!![/quote]

hess....go ahead and telll us what you "REALLY" think of rodgers, no sugar on top

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

We all know I'd fire Rogers as fast as possible if it were up to me....

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

For the record, I think we have some helluva talent on defense. Pound for pound, I'll take our unit against any other team in the NFC, save the Bears maybe.

I think C. Rogers can and will develop into a very good cornerback. Cornerback is such an isolated position that if you're not doing too well, it really makes it look like you suck. And conversely, if you're catching a lot of interceptions people tend to equate that with a Pro-Bowl caliber corner.

If Rogers grabs half, yes half, those interceptions last season, we're not even having this conversation about what a bum he is.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

We can only cross our fingers and hope for the best!

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Hooskins, maybe "Other" shouldn't have been an option. Oh well, leason learned

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

I have a quick question about the "stepping up" cliche. Does "stepping up" imply giving more effort, necessarily? Or rather, does it imply a significant improvement in ones football ability?

I don't think it was a effort problem at all. I thought the whole team fought their guts out every week. They just didn't have the talent to stay close on the road, and lost a bunch of close ones at home.

If "stepping up" refers to the latter, I think you have to look at your young players for improvement. Landry's a rookie. Wade's a seasoned vet. If we have to count on the former, our safety situation isnt so good. The latter is not someone who we should be expecting big things from at LG.

Golston was a mid round pick who should contribute under reasonably low expectations.

So the answer should be the "rest of the above" (Rocky, ST and Carlos). Our young guys need to mature and start providing some return on our investment in them.

I voted for Carlos, because Rocky has still yet to see PT. But I nominate Taylor for a choice in the poll. He needs to make the biggest strides to reach his potential.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

[QUOTE=hesscl34;317470]I'm so glad to see that most agree with me about Rogers!!!![/QUOTE]
I voted for Rogers to "step up" because I think he is capable of playing better than he has shown, which is different than saying that he should be let go because he'll never be any good. He dropped way too many potential INTs so he needs to step up and hold on to those, just like he has to react to the pass better. He's already proved to be pretty good in run support, so he helps the team out in that aspect.

So, while we have the same answer for the poll I think we have very different reasons for our answers.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

If the team fought their guts out we wouldn't have lost. Sad truth, but it is the truth. I think there were a lot of players that just didn't care, or were frustrated and gave up way too early in the season. Gibbs wouldn't have had to scream at them at the end of the year if they had been fighthing their guts out.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

[QUOTE=GTripp0012;317480]I have a quick question about the "stepping up" cliche. Does "stepping up" imply giving more effort, necessarily? Or rather, does it imply a significant improvement in ones football ability?

I don't think it was a effort problem at all. I thought the whole team fought their guts out every week. They just didn't have the talent to stay close on the road, and lost a bunch of close ones at home.

If "stepping up" refers to the latter, I think you have to look at your young players for improvement. Landry's a rookie. Wade's a seasoned vet. If we have to count on the former, our safety situation isnt so good. The latter is not someone who we should be expecting big things from at LG.

Golston was a mid round pick who should contribute under reasonably low expectations.

So the answer should be the "rest of the above" (Rocky, ST and Carlos). Our young guys need to mature and start providing some return on our investment in them.

I voted for Carlos, because Rocky has still yet to see PT. But I nominate Taylor for a choice in the poll. He needs to make the biggest strides to reach his potential.[/QUOTE]

It's Hooskins poll, so you'll have to ask him. But I believe essentially it's who needs to step forward (perhaps that's a better term here) and perform at a higher level than last year in order for us to be successful.

Can we, for example, afford another season of drops by Rogers so long as Rocky McIntosh plays like LaVar circa 2002?

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GTripp, I hear what you're saying. But I look at a team like Philly. To me, there's nothing special about their defense or their team for that matter. But you know what, they are extremely well coached; Year after year after year.

In my opinion, when your talent only takes you so far, coaching takes you the rest of the way. Coaching is that decisive and competitive advantage that separates poor teams from good teams and good ones from great ones.

When you listen to player post game interviews after a big win, I tend to hear the same thing...."the coaches did a good job getting us ready"...or "we were really prepared for this game". Maybe it's just my selective hearing, but I rarely heard that coming from our locker room last season.

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[quote=SmootSmack;317488]It's Hooskins poll, so you'll have to ask him. But I believe essentially it's who needs to step forward (perhaps that's a better term here) and perform at a higher level than last year in order for us to be successful.

Can we, for example, afford another season of drops by Rogers so long as Rocky McIntosh plays like LaVar circa 2002?[/quote]Well, I think in that case that it really doesn't matter who steps up, so long as we find a quality player somewhere, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

If Rocky were to play like Lavar2002, it would more than make up for a few dropped INTs. However, its far more reasonable to expect Rogers to put a little time into improving his hands in the offseason than it is to expect Rocky to be the next coming.

I mean outside of the LBs, we are pretty much attacking this thing with the same team as last year. So to expect better results than last year, we have to expect better play than last year. And it can come from anyone, but within reason, we have a new MLB, and a new WLB. So it's pretty much going to have to come from there. The rest of the team is back.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

[quote=12thMan;317490]GTripp, I hear what you're saying. But I look at a team like Philly. To me, there's nothing special about their defense or their team for that matter. But you know what, they are extremely well coached; Year after year after year.

In my opinion, when your talent only takes you so far, coaching takes you the rest of the way. Coaching is that decisive and competitive advantage that separates poor teams from good teams and good ones from great ones.

When you listen to player post game interviews after a big win, I tend to hear the same thing...."the coaches did a good job getting us ready"...or "we were really prepared for this game". Maybe it's just my selective hearing, but I rarely heard that coming from our locker room last season.[/quote]The Eagles also do a wonderful job with their personel year after year. And Reid is the league's top coach right now IMO. But if you kept their personel and made Marty Mornignweg the coach there, I don't think you'd see a noticible dropoff in their team play.

Coaching can provide a strategic (and unpredictable) advantage in the short term, but in the long run, I just feel that the talent on the field has to carry the team.

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[quote=hesscl34;317486]If the team fought their guts out we wouldn't have lost. Sad truth, but it is the truth. I think there were a lot of players that just didn't care, or were frustrated and gave up way too early in the season. Gibbs wouldn't have had to scream at them at the end of the year if they had been fighthing their guts out.[/quote]Not true. That assumes that every team that loses could have won if they tried harder. Players who don't go all out on every play don't last very long in this league. It was not an effort issue.

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rocky and landry can't step up since they haven't actually played yet. golston did step up, but he doesn't really look like he'll ever be a stud DT.

wade played well in limited time, he just needs to keep it up.

that leaves only rogers that actually needs to step up, but even if he continues to struggle, smoot and macklin are right there, so that's not really an amazing option either.

Other - the entire D, especially the front four.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Hooskins, our poll is getting picked apart. Not surprising I suppose. This always happens with polls.

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[quote=SmootSmack;317499]Hooskins, our poll is getting picked apart. Not surprising I suppose. This always happens with polls.[/quote]

Lol, well I guess. I think people are missing the point with Landry and Rocky. I guess the poll would be better worded if it was something like pick the player who's play will need to be the best in order for us to succeed.

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[quote=SmootSmack;317488]It's Hooskins poll, so you'll have to ask him. But I believe essentially [B]it's who needs to step forward (perhaps that's a better term here) and perform at a higher level than last year in order for us to be successful.[/B]

Can we, for example, afford another season of drops by Rogers so long as Rocky McIntosh plays like LaVar circa 2002?[/quote]

I think that is exactly what I mean.

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[quote=GTripp0012;317493]The Eagles also do a wonderful job with their personel year after year. And Reid is the league's top coach right now IMO. But if you kept their personel and made Marty Mornignweg the coach there, I don't think you'd see a noticible dropoff in their team play.

Coaching can provide a strategic (and unpredictable) advantage in the short term, but in the long run, I just feel that the talent on the field has to carry the team.[/quote]

I feel just the opposite. I think the talent, in many cases, is close at this level. Closer than we think. The way rosters turn over in the NFL now a days, the only constant is the coaching staff and continuity of thought.

We agree that Reid is one of the top coaches in the NFL, but I disagree that any old Joe Schmo can't get the same results with the same team. This guy takes J. Trotter, who by some accounts, is a system linebacker. Yet he somehow manages to be in the discussion as one of the better linebackers in the NFC.

The fact of the matter is, one would really have a hard time quantifying good coaching. Other than wins and losses, it's hard to really 'see' it over the course of a game. Sure, if it's third and one, and your team has rushed for over two hundred yards during the game, and the coach decides to thow a bomb to the end zone, that probably was a questionable call there.

I think it shows up in areas like lack of penalties, exececution of time clock, tackles made/missed, passes caught/dropped and maybe a few other areas. It's more mental. I believe players excute to the extent of their preparedness and confidence in the overall strategy. That's why you can fight your guts out every game and still lose week after week. At this level true professionals have the mental edge over the opponent.

I happen to think Gregg Williams is a wonderful coach but this is his year to step up.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Carlos Rogers
Because our LB group is stronger and deeper than last year:

1) Marcus Washington
2) London Fletcher
3) Rocky McIntosh
4) Lemar Marshall
5) Khary Campbell
6) Dallas Sartz
7) H.B. Blades

to name a few, if McIntosh fails we have good backups that will do well.
But the key to William's defense is CB. They have to be good at man coverage and support the run for Williams' defense to have the flexability to do all the blitzing he likes to do.
Carlos filling the role of legit #1 or #2 CB is critical to our success next year. Smoot is no longer a legit #1 or #2 CB, he is a great #3 and that is about it. He proved that in his years at Minnesota. If we counted on Smoot to start we are in trouble like last year when Rogers and Springs missed time due to injuries and our backups had problems.
Carlos Rogers and Springs missed alot of time due to injury last year and it cuased alot of problems/off year for our defense. I look for both of them to rebound and have good years.

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Rogers will be fine, he's very young and has shown a ton of promise. To me, Todd Wade will be the 2nd most critical factor to success on the offensive side of the ball. Him being so tall scares me a bit for a guard and if we can't run the ball well to help a young QB out, we're in trouble.

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other. the entire defense( including greg williams) we were down right brutal on d last season

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[quote=12thMan;317475]For the record, I think we have some helluva talent on defense. Pound for pound, I'll take our unit against any other team in the NFC, save the Bears maybe.

I think C. Rogers can and will develop into a very good cornerback. Cornerback is such an isolated position that if you're not doing too well, it really makes it look like you suck. And conversely, if you're catching a lot of interceptions people tend to equate that with a Pro-Bowl caliber corner.

If Rogers grabs half, yes half, those interceptions last season, we're not even having this conversation about what a bum he is.[/quote]

I'm buying that. I think Carlos had a really bad year, but so did the rest of the D. I read a good while back that he was going to work with Darrell Green & Deion in the off-season, that should pay huge dividends.

I look for him to come out and play as we thought he would last season, really well. Also, I think if he were to have any problems the depth we have is great. And Smoot can still be a #2 in this league, he's back were he belongs.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

[QUOTE=12thMan;317508]I feel just the opposite. I think the talent, in many cases, is close at this level. Closer than we think. The way rosters turn over in the NFL now a days, the only constant is the coaching staff and continuity of thought.

We agree that Reid is one of the top coaches in the NFL, but I disagree that any old Joe Schmo can't get the same results with the same team. This guy takes J. Trotter, who by some accounts, is a system linebacker. Yet he somehow manages to be in the discussion as one of the better linebackers in the NFC.

The fact of the matter is, one would really have a hard time quantifying good coaching. Other than wins and losses, it's hard to really 'see' it over the course of a game. Sure, if it's third and one, and your team has rushed for over two hundred yards during the game, and the coach decides to thow a bomb to the end zone, that probably was a questionable call there.

I think it shows up in areas like lack of penalties, exececution of time clock, tackles made/missed, passes caught/dropped and maybe a few other areas. It's more mental. I believe players excute to the extent of their preparedness and confidence in the overall strategy. That's why you can fight your guts out every game and still lose week after week. At this level true professionals have the mental edge over the opponent.

I happen to think Gregg Williams is a wonderful coach but this is his year to step up.[/QUOTE]

I'm with you, 12th. Gregg Williams really made me pause and think about that big contract extension he got. Maybe he started to believe his press and that's what did him in last year. Whatever it was, the entire D was atrocious with absolutely diddley squat in the turnover department, no run support, shoddy tackling and poor coverage. To me, that reflects upon the scheme and coaching, especially when you have players like Marcus, ST, Cornelius etc.
So my vote is for the entire defensive staff and players.

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Im going to vote other. I think we had problems on both sides of the ball last season. The D can't win games alone, and the O needs to score at least say 21 points to consistently win games. Since I can't vote JC (I think we only go as far as he can take us by performance) Ill say the D-line. We need to create pressure which in turn will lead to turnovers and 3 and outs.

On a side note, heres me and Rocky:
[IMG]http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/6517/wynncarshow029gg8.jpg[/IMG]
And Golston...
[IMG]http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5088/wynncarshow041mj1.jpg[/IMG]
(pics from Renaldo Wynn's car show at redskins park)

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

Rogers is the only guy on that list who has underperformed relative to expectations. Moreover, in my opinion he digressed in his second year after a promising rookie campaign. This is a make or break year for him, and with the depth we now have at that position, I would go so far as to say it's a make or break first month of the season.

Re: Hooskins Presents the "Who Needs to Step Up" Poll
 

I voted Rogers because if he were to play at a higher level it would have a greater impact than any other player. It would be worth 5 to 10 overall defensive ranking spots by itself. I assume that by stepping up he would also learn to catch. Second choice: Golston.