K Dawson providing lone offense for Cardinals

Dec 18, 2017 - 2:43 AM LANDOVER, Md.-- Arizona Cardinals kicker Phil Dawson has scored his team's last 30 points, going back 10 quarters.

That's impressive for Dawson but bad for the Cardinals, whose offensive struggles caught up to them in Sunday's 20-15 loss to the Washington Redskins at FedExField.

The Cardinals outgained the Redskins 286-218 in offensive yards, but Arizona went 0-for-6 in the red zone and was 4 of 19 on third down as it was eliminated from the playoff hunt. Arizona has not scored a touchdown since the second quarter of its Week 13 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

"I didn't even realize that," quarterback Blaine Gabbert said after Sunday's loss. "It's just, when we get down in the red zone, we have to enhance our focus and that starts with me at the quarterback position.

"The difference between a touchdown and a field goal, not even just numerically -- but momentum-wise -- is huge."

The Cardinals rushed for 141 yards Sunday, but Gabbert finished 16 of 41 for 189 yards. He threw an interception and lost a fumble that led to a Redskins touchdown.

"I think very average," Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said when asked about Gabbert's play. "Looking at his stat line, I would say average to poor, but again he took us down the field and made some throws at the end of the game that should have won the game. He missed some open ones."

Gabbert continues to struggle with accuracy and has completed 95 of 171 passes (55.6 percent) with six touchdowns and six interceptions.

Arians said he plans on sticking with him.

"You know, I'm going to come back swinging," Gabbert said. "I don't know how to play any other way. Get hit, step right back up and swing again."

Dawson, who kicked four field goals in last week's 12-7 win over the Titans, was perfect Sunday, connecting from 40, 35, 19, 34, and 32 yards.

He even nailed a 54-yarder that came off the board thanks to a leveraging penalty on Washington that gave the Cardinals a first down on the 20. Four plays later, he was back on to connect from 32 yards.

"We knew that our recipe this week was play strong defense, have a big day on special teams, try to put a couple of drives together on (offense) and we dang near pulled that off," Dawson said.

Dawson even pulled off a perfect pooch kick that Arizona recovered to start the third quarter before settling for a field goal.

"You just have to score in the red zone," Arians said. "I mean, we kicked too many field goals and its execution."