In Week 6 last season, after Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon made a seven-yard run for a touchdown, he went to the sideline and took off his shoe.
Earlier in the game, Mixon had made a six-yard run off the right tackle and injured his foot on the play. Mixon decided to play through it. But it turned out worse than he expected.
“I was just like, ‘Man, I don’t know how I’m feeling. I know something’s going on but I don’t know exactly what it is,’” Mixon said. “I just tried to go back out there and beast it out. I went back out there, I knew something was wrong. Still got in the end zone. After that, when I went back to the sideline, that’s when I took off my shoe. I’m like, ‘It’s crazy.’”
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According to Mixon, he wasn’t fully cleared until February.
During the early part of Bengals training camp in 2021, Mixon has shown all the speed, cutting ability and athleticism that have made him one of the better starting running backs in the NFL.
Now, the Bengals are relying on Mixon to help bring more balance to their pass-heavy offense.
Last season, because of Mixon’s injury, the team rotated through three backup running backs for most of the season. Mixon played in only six games and finished the year with 428 rushing yards. Head coach Zac Taylor didn’t rule him out for the year with his foot injury until late December, and Mixon said the decision to not play in the last few games last year was smart.
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“At the end of the year, toward pretty much the end of the last two, three games, coaches were just like, ‘Just shut it down and get ready for next year,’” Mixon said. “It was definitely tough. I wish I was able to be out there. That wasn’t able to happen. But I’m here now and I’m ready to roll.”
This season, Mixon will have a much different role in the Bengals offense. When the team drafted him, Jeremy Hill was the physical running back who got reps on first and second downs and Giovani Bernard played on third downs and in passing situations.
Mixon quickly took over Hill’s role and led the AFC in rushing in 2018. But he rarely got the chance to show his ability as a pass catcher.
“I feel like I’m one of the best backs at catching in the league,” Mixon said. “There’s a track record of it. At the end of the day I know for a fact when I’m out there on the field on third down and I get the ball in my hands there’s a lot of great things to look forward to.”
Mixon’s role in the offense is a clean slate. Bernard now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Backups Samaje Perine and Chris Evans’ roles will be impacted with the way the coaching staff wants to use Mixon instead of the other way around.
The Bengals also brought back offensive line coach Frank Pollack, who helped structure the team’s run game when Mixon had a breakout 2018 season. With Pollack, Mixon said he sees the opportunity to do more in the offense.
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“He (has) got a number of runs,” Mixon said. “He (doesn’t) try to master one run. One thing about him, he’s going to pretty much try to get every run in the game. For me, that definitely gets me rolling because once you keep wearing down the defense and things like that, man, they tend to bend. And that at one point, pretty much in the fourth quarter, they break.”
Mixon said he didn’t have specific goals as a pass catcher this season, but he expects the Bengals offense to revolve around getting the ball in the hands of their four “home run” playmakers.
“We've got a lot of weapons,” Mixon said. “We've got a Fab 5 going on in our offense right now. We've got me, Joe Burrow, we've got Tee (Higgins), (Ja’Marr) Chase and (Tyler Boyd) out there. That's five people that's real-life, big-play guys, home run guys. Everybody (has) got to touch the ball.”
Around the team, there’s confidence the Bengals will establish the run game in 2021 better than they did in 2020. That was a significant part of the reasoning bringing Pollack back.
In 2018, when Pollack coached with the Bengals, Mixon had a Pro Bowl caliber season in the run game despite the team’s below average offensive line. That Bengals team had a rookie center, a left tackle and a left guard playing their last full seasons before retirement, a right tackle who had just been waived and an undrafted free agent at right guard.
The Bengals have a much better offensive line than that in 2021, and Mixon always has high expectations.
“Every time I touch the ball, really go out there and make a play,” Mixon said. “I know at the end of the day, with the ball in my hands, it's liable to be a home run at any time. I've got to go out there, play the game fast, play how I play it and I know everything will get rolling. I'm definitely excited for it.”
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