If you want this promotion, you're going to have to 'step up to the plate'. [=you will have to improve your work performance to show that you deserve the promotion]
She has a lot 'on her plate' right now. [=she has a lot of things that she has to deal with right now]
He was handed the job 'on a plate'. [=he was given the job without having to do anything to earn it]
(..) Hey, Mulder. Mulder? Oh, my God... Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, Toto. What am I doin' here? - A bullet grazed your temporal plate. - cms left and we'd be playing harps. You've been unconscious since you got here. Where's Scully? Your call must have been intercepted. Scully had a reaction (..)1998 The X Files