ESPN: Players who must step up on all 32 teams

Not gonna paste the whole article showing the player for all 32 teams. Just the Rams.



The Cowboys made waves on Monday, sending a first-round pick to the Raiders for Amari Cooper. Dallas can't afford to be too patient with its new wide receiver while he adjusts to a new offense, as the Cowboys' passing attack ranks among the worst in the league. In a tight division race, the Cowboys need Cooper to produce quickly.

Who else can be those crucial difference-makers? As you sift through the Week 8 NFL Power Rankings, we have a player on all 32 teams who needs to crank it up a few notches to help shore up a weakness.

How we rank the teams: Our power panel -- a group of more than 80 writers, editors and TV personalities -- evaluated how all 32 teams stack up through the first seven weeks of the season.

1. Los Angeles Rams

Record: 7-0
Week 7 ranking: 1

Need more from: P Johnny Hekker. There's not much to gripe about with the Rams' 7-0 start, and they don't punt often -- but when they do, Hekker hasn't been as productive as last year. The Rams are averaging the third-fewest yards per punt this season after averaging the fourth most last year. -- Michael Schwartz

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the game time forum, I asked "does Hekker seem to be a bit off today?". No one responded. To me, his punts all seemed short and he didn't pin the niners deep into their own territory like he usually does. Anybody else notice that or do I just need new glasses?


[www.espn.com]

---