Redskins want to see more of Pierre Garcon

There are reasons why any football team finds itself with four wins at the end of a season. Mainly two of them: an inability to move the ball or to stop others from moving the ball. In many ways, the Washington Redskins were guilty of both in 2014. Through a menagerie of quarterbacks, injured or otherwise incapacitated, the lack of rhythm on the offensive side of the football came at a heavy cost.

The inconsistency coming from who was getting rid of the ball resulted in an inconsistency in who ended up with the ball. No one suffered in that latter department more last season than wide receiver Pierre Garcon. 

Last year, he came away with all of 68 receptions, a 60 percent drop in production from the year before, when Garcon snagged a Redskins record 113 passes. In 2013, Garcon had the ball in his hands at least five times every Sunday. The following year, he had it on three occasions or fewer in eight contests. 

The addition of DeSean Jackson may have had something to do with that sudden deficit. Jackson has a habit of attracting the football, regardless of who throws it. And once he has it, he tends to advance it. He led the NFL last season in yards per reception (20.9) and the team with 1,169 yards total. His 56 catches were second to Garcon's 68. 

Two seasons ago, Garcon was targeted 181 times. The season following, that tally fell to 105. That's an almost 58 percent drop. 

Consequently, head coach Jay Gruden is looking for some new holes to put him in. But he also knows that too much dependence on one player can empower defenses in easily taking away that primary option.

"When you go back to pass, you don't have one guy in mind," he said. "This isn't Xbox. You don't hit the X button. You have to read the coverages and make your throw determined on what is there for you. He's [Garcon] always going to be an option for us. How many times he gets the ball is impossible to predict, though."

That's not going to stop him from getting it. 

"All of our plays, Pierre is a viable option, some of them more so than others," he said. "It's just a matter of what the coverage dictates. We'll try to move him around and get him the ball a little bit more because he's very good after the catch."

According to John Keim of ESPN, in 3rd-and-7 or less situations last season, Garcon averaged 4.74 yards after the catch, and 1.32 yards after contact throughout his career in Washington. If he has his hands on the ball in short yardage plays, he simply is not going to go down easily, and he'll make a defense pay if they don't play him close enough.

In 2013, he was very effective in the screen game. Playing from behind the line of scrimmage, Garcon averaged 10.14 yards after the catch. In 2014? 5.83 yards after the catch. With the pigskin in his clutches in all situations last year, Garcon averaged 11.1 yards, his career-worst. 

With the Redskins looking to establish the run game in a new way this season behind Alfred Morris and physical reserve Matt Jones, it would seem receiving numbers on the whole would go down, Garcon's included. Fewer passes, fewer receptions, fewer opportunities. 

But, speaking at the NFL Owners' Meeting in March, Gruden hinted otherwise. The stability he hopes will remain at the quarterback position, even with more focus placed on the ground game, will result in more, not less, chances for wide receivers. He doesn't want to see their work go to waste.

"A lot of people would rather just hand it off," he said then, "but I think we need to spread it out and be diverse in what we do and get these guys these touches. These guys work extremely hard. For us not to give them opportunities to make plays down the field is silly."

The overall control of the line of scrimmage a dominant rush attack brings, Gruden hopes, will open the back side of the field for receivers to make plays more freely with defensive backs committed to stopping runners. It also plays into one of Robert Griffin's talents, the play-action pass. By lulling linebackers to the run option, long gainers could be had downfield.

And the perfect opportunity, they feel, to take advantage of those yards after the catch. They haven't forgotten who has been leading on that score the last three seasons.

"He's a stud, man," receivers coach Ike Hilliard said of Garcon. "He's a pro's pro. A guy you model your game after if you're a young guy. A guy you pick his brain if you're a young guy. When he's around, you watch him work, you try and process the game the way he does."