The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense showed some life on Sunday in their game against The New York Jets, totaling 27 points for their first victory in the league. One aspect of the offense is unanswered, however.
The running back Joe Mixon had a breakthrough year in 2021 by accumulating 1,205 yards with two92 runs (4.1 yards per play) and scored 13 touchdowns. The running game set everything in the right direction for the quarterback Joe Burrow to find his most sought-after receivers, including the likes of Ja’Marr chase and Tee Higgins among others.
Through three games this year it’s been difficult for Mixon to score yards. When he played the Jets in the first game, he ran the ball 12 times, gaining 24 yards while also catching three balls off seven targets to gain 14 yards.
Mixon has been averaging 2.8 yards per run in the early stages of the season (163 yards in the 58 times he’s tried) and hasn’t reached the goal line. However, the offensive director Brian Callahan says he isn’t in any way concerned regarding Mixon’s Pro Bowl back.
Not yet, at least.
“I think you’ll see improvement from him,” Callahan told Cleveland.com. “He’s going to run for a bunch of yards because he’s going to get a lot of opportunities to do it.”
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Callahan’s confidence is based on the things he’s seen on the big screen and not necessarily from the statistics.
“We look at all of our inefficient runs every week and what’s the reasoning for them, and we had a zero yard gain or a negative gain,” Callahan explained. “What you come away with from watching all of them is that it’s always somebody somewhere. There’s no consistent problem.”
The Bengals offensive line has proven to be a major problem throughout the season in both pass and run games. Burrow must avoid massive pressure and still has been hit 15 times in the league (tied by Carson Wentz of the Washington Commanders).
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Mixon is in a position to Thursday to prove those who doubt him wrong and assist his fantasy owners when he faces the Miami Dolphins team which has allowed the most yards per game of 116 in the field this season.
As Callahan stated, Mixon is going to take advantage of his opportunities.
“I don’t really worry about Joe at this point too much,” Callahan declared.