For Cooley, end zone is the endgame

Something went missing from Chris Cooley’s game last season.

The 27-year-old Washington Redskins tight end caught 83 passes for 849 yards - career highs for Cooley and franchise records for a tight end. He was voted to the Pro Bowl for the second straight season.

But his otherwise strong performance was surprisingly and conspicuously lacking in one respect - touchdowns.

Cooley, in fact, scored only once all season - and that came on an option pass from receiver Antwaan Randle El in Week 4.

The last time Cooley scored on a pass from quarterback Jason Campbell? A Week 12 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in November 2007.

“If I had 40 catches and one touchdown, then I would be upset,” Cooley said. “It’s not a big deal. I know they were trying to get me the ball.”

Until last season, they always succeeded.

Cooley caught six, seven, six and eight touchdown passes in his first four seasons with an average of 58 catches. Then last year, with the same teammates in the offensive huddle, the catches soared and the touchdowns tanked.

Only 10 players in the league caught more passes than Cooley - and they caught an average of seven touchdown passes. The only tight end with more catches, Tony Gonzalez, scored 10 times for the Kansas City Chiefs.

This season, the Redskins expect Cooley’s end zone production to return to past levels for many reasons.

It’s hard to imagine him getting shut down two years in a row. The Redskins are more comfortable in the team’s second year in coach Jim Zorn’s offense. New starting receiver Malcolm Kelly is a 6-foot-4 leaper whom defenses will have to respect on fade patterns.

“In the second year in the offense, everybody’s going to get do some cooler stuff,” said backup tight end Todd Yoder, Cooley’s best buddy in the locker room. “You can only defend so many people. The more you can get other guys to be threats, the easier it is for you to get balls.”

Zorn said he wanted to get the ball to Cooley in the red zone plenty last year and needs to do a better job of scheming to get him open for scores this season.

“Who scores the touchdowns is not important to us,” said Scott Wachenheim, the first-year tight ends coach. “It’s important to fantasy league owners. It’s winning the game that matters. The ability that Malcolm has shown in preseason, I think that will take the double coverage from Chris and allow him to get open, especially down in the red zone.”

Linebacker H.B. Blades, who has matched up with Cooley in practice for two-plus years, knows how dangerous the 6-3, 250-pound Utah State graduate can be.

“Chris has speed, and his route-running ability is amazing,” Blades said. “You try to get on his hip, but he’s smart enough to know when to stick you and when to break out. It’s easy to cover a guy who’s just fast because he kind of telegraphs what he’s doing. A bigger tight end will be physical with you. Chris has a combination of everything.”

Campbell said he and Cooley aren’t focused on the lack of touchdowns and just want to let them happen naturally. That almost happened in the third preseason game against the formidable starting defense of the New England Patriots.

On first-and-10 at the Washington 21 late in the second quarter, Cooley broke free deep down the left sideline, caught a pass in stride, rumbled over a couple of defenders, picked up a block from rookie receiver Marko Mitchell and finally went down at the New England 6.

That 73-yard catch was longer than any Cooley has made in the regular season, but Campbell scored on a bootleg three plays later.

“After the second play, I was in the huddle, and I was like, ’Jeez. I got us all the way down here. How about running one of my red zone plays?’ ” Cooley said. “At least throw me a bone down here.”