Reed Doughty finds himself with the opportunity of a lifetime. It came when a beloved teammate lost his life. How do the Redskins play without SEAN TAYLOR?

Doughty doesn't quite know what to expect this afternoon. He said he last spoke with Taylor on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

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"It wasn't so much X's and O's, but just a lot of support," he said. "When I wasn't starting and I wasn't getting in there, he's like, 'Somebody gets hurt or something else, you just got to [play hard], you know, have fun.' The message was, When I get in there, don't be fearful or anxious or anything like that."

"Right before we left for Tampa, he gave me a handshake and said . . . 'Have fun. Make a name for yourself.' "

He paused, swallowed hard and tried his best not to break down in tears like he had often that week. "It's hard, but I guess that's just how life is sometimes," he said.

There will be moments when Doughty will be alone in the defensive backfield, the weight of his assignment on a certain play in front of him and the death of his talented teammate behind him. And in those moments, there is no getting around the reality of the day: Grief trumps the game.

"It's one of these things, that, I don't feel like I'm replacing him on the football field," Doughty said. "I feel like I'm playing free safety. I feel like he was more than that on the field."

"I don't feel like I'm ever going to replace him," he added. "Sometimes Sean would do his job and somebody else's. That's probably not going to be my role. I'm going to try and give this community and these fans a chance to win every ballgame. But I'm not Sean Taylor."

Staff writer Barry Svrluga contributed to this report.