So what has happened? Has Jackson’s production begun to decline as he ages? (He’ll turn 30 in December.) Has Washington misused him? Has Kirk Cousins simply missed him? In my opinion, it’s a combination of the latter two reasons more than the first. While he is getting older, he’s not showing many signs of losing his ability as a deep threat, at least in my eyes. The problem is more that Jackson and Cousins have struggled to get on the same page at times this season.

While Jackson had his only 100-yard game of the season back in Week 1 against the Steelers, the disconnect between him and Cousins was still visible at times during that game.

Here, Cousins makes a signal at the line of scrimmage before the snap. He appears to be telling Jackson to run a slant after spotting the cornerback playing off coverage.

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Jackson gets the signal but runs a quick hitch route, while Cousins throws the ball expecting a slant route. The ball hits the corner in the chest, who drops what should have been an interception.

It’s impossible to tell whether Cousins gave the wrong signal or whether Jackson ran the wrong route. But the disconnect between the two is clear to see. That has continued throughout the season.

This time against the Cowboys, Jackson takes an outside release and runs a go route against man coverage.

Jackson runs past the corner and probably has a touchdown on a throw out in front of him. Only the safety coming over from the middle of the field has a chance to get there. But Cousins throws to his back shoulder, almost as if he were expecting Jackson to break back to the ball. The ball falls incomplete and Washington misses out on a potential touchdown.

There have been times this season when Jackson has been open and Cousins has just missed him.

Back in the Steelers game, Jackson ran a double move.

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Jackson burns the corner with the double move, and the safety in the middle of the field has no chance of getting over. But Cousins’s pass is underthrown and drifts too far to the sideline. Jackson has to pull up slightly to allow the ball to catch up, but that also allows the corner to catch up. Jackson does draw a pass-interference call from the corner, but on a better throw he has a touchdown. With Washington’s struggles in the red zone this season, being able to score on deep balls would help ease the pressure.

Cousins has also managed to overthrow Jackson a couple of times this season. It’s almost impressive, because Jackson is nearly impossible to overthrow, but it still results in missed opportunities.

Here against Dallas, Jackson runs a skinny post route.

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Jackson simply runs past the corner and the deep safety down the seam. The anticipation from Cousins is great; he actually throws the ball before Jackson is even with the corner. But the ball lands about five yards ahead of Jackson, and it goes down as a missed opportunity.

Cousins overthrew Jackson again a few weeks later against the Ravens.

This time, Jackson takes an outside release and sprints down the sideline.

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Once again, Jackson runs past the corner with ease, while the single deep safety has no chance to get over from the middle of the field. The ball from Cousins is closer this time but still marginally overthrown and out of the reach of Jackson.

While Cousins has largely been at fault, Jackson isn’t always blameless. Against the Eagles, Jackson dropped what should have been a touchdown catch.

Washington was waiting all game to get this matchup. The Redskins wanted Jackson isolated against Eagles rookie cornerback Jalen Mills in man-to-man coverage. When they got it, they immediately attacked it.

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Cousins takes a quick drop, keeping his helmet lined up down the middle of the field to hold the deep safety. He doesn’t even wait for Jackson to get level with the corner; he trusts Jackson to win and pulls the trigger. The pass from Cousins is just about perfect, but as Jackson pulls it in, the ball bounces off his helmet and falls incomplete.

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Drops are rare for Jackson, but they do happen to every wide receiver from time to time. Still, this one goes down against Jackson as a missed opportunity after a near-perfect throw from Cousins.

While Jackson and Cousins have struggled to connect at times, they have managed to hit on a couple of deep passes. The 44-yard touchdown pass against the Giants stands out in particular.

On this play, Jackson runs a post route.

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Like we’ve seen in other plays, Cousins has trust in Jackson outrunning the coverage. He pulls the trigger before Jackson clears the deep safety. Cousins delivers another perfect ball that Jackson runs under and pulls in for a touchdown, despite having the corner draped on him.

This is the kind of play Washington hasn’t had enough of this year. As we’ve seen, the chances have been there, but for various reasons, they’ve failed to capitlize. The good news for Washington is that Jackson has still been getting open and Cousins has shown plenty of trust in him to run past the coverage. In the past few games, there have been signs that Cousins and Jackson are starting to get on the same page.

In Week 8 against the Bengals, Washington lined up Jackson inside the numbers and had him run a corner route.

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Cousins shows a hint of hesitation, double clutching before he delivers the throw. But the pass he throws is fantastic, with plenty of velocity to get it into a small window between the corner and the safety. Jackson repays Cousins’s throw by holding on to the catch despite taking a huge hit to the head from Bengals safety George Iloka.

If those two can replicate that more often in the second half of the season, then the explosive plays and deep touchdowns should follow. That would greatly help take the pressure off the red-zone offense, which Washington needs to improve down the stretch.

While Jay Gruden and Sean McVay do a good job finding ways to take shots to Jackson, they could do more to feed him the ball a little more. He’s currently averaging fewer than four catches a game. That can work if one of those catches is on a 50-yard touchdown pass, but they’ve failed to connect on most of those deep shots so far. There’s no reason they can’t find ways to get the ball in his hands more often.

One of the best routes Jackson runs is the comeback route. Corners will typically try to stay on top of Jackson, in fear of getting beaten deep. That leaves them vulnerable to the comeback.

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Jackson gets the corner to turn his hips as he runs level with him. Once the corner is fully turned around, with his back to the quarterback, Jackson cuts back outside. Cousins, meanwhile, anticipates the throw well and releases the ball before Jackson makes his cut. That anticipation maximizes the separation Jackson creates with his route. The ball arrives on time and Jackson makes the catch with the corner still a few yards off of him.

It’s a relatively basic play but one that can be very difficult to defend because Jackson is such a deep threat. Washington can also use the out route in the same fashion to get Jackson a relatively simply five-yard gain.

Another option is to use Jackson on drag and crossing routes.

This is a concept designed to beat man coverage. Jackson lines up in the slot and runs a simple drag route across the middle of the field. Tight ends Vernon Davis and Jordan Reed run routes to the middle of field without any intention of actually getting a pass. Their jobs are to create traffic for the defender covering Jackson.

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The play works just as designed, getting Jackson wide open with plenty of room to run into after the catch. With his speed, Jackson turns a simple five-yard pass into a 28-yard gain. This works particularly well against man-to-man coverage teams and gives the defense something else to worry about.

Washington generally does a good job designing ways for Jackson to run deep, but I think the Redskins could involve him more in the short passing game, too. If defenses start playing purely for the deep ball, as some teams have at times this season, then Jackson can find himself frustrated at the lack of opportunities. If they can use him to hurt the defense underneath, then that might help him get a better look on the next deep shot.

But overall, I don’t think the stats fairly represent what Jackson has offered Washington’s offense this season. He is still a legitimate deep threat for opposing defenses and has still been getting open pretty regularly. Cousins needs to do a better job finding him when those opportunities arise, but in the past few weeks, he’s shown some signs of doing just that. If he can, then Washington’s offense will suddenly look a lot more explosive and dangerous than it does at the bye week.

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