Do we keep him?

What do we really have in Mixon? He's 8th in rushing yards this season. He has elite ball security. He's pretty good as a receiver. His pass blocking has improved a bit I believe. He's decent at goal line rushing when he lowers his head and hits the hole with authority, however.......

He stinks running out of the shotgun. He doesn't have the speed/quickness to get outside against most D's. He usually only gains what's blocked between the tackles. He doesn't have that extra gear to turn 7 yard gains into 15. He only has three 20+ yard gains this season and two of them were for 22 and 21 yards. The last Cleveland game padded his stats a bit.

My question arises from is all of it truly his fault??

1. ZT and Co. aren't about the run game by and large. Mixon had 10 games this season with less than 15 carries!!

2. The Oline excuse. I'm not a big believer in the all/most of Maxon's problems are blocking related. However, I also think it's fair to say on many plays our run blocking did him no favors.

3. The sweep and pitches outside to Mixon are just a bad idea. It certainly hurts his stats. 1 yard gain, -2, back to LOS and so on.

It's not a big mystery, I'm not a big Joe Mixon fan. But to be fair is it really all his fault?? Is he worth bring back as a spell back and 3rd down receiver/goal line?

It's not a big secret either that I'm a big believer in the lack of an efficient running game is in the top three of the Bengals biggest problems'

I believe he's been misused. More passes to him, he's got juice left in the tank.

(01-09-2024, 11:20 AM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Do we keep him?

What do we really have in Mixon? He's 8th in rushing yards this season. He has elite ball security. He's pretty good as a receiver. His pass blocking has improved a bit I believe. He's decent at goal line rushing when he lowers his head and hits the hole with authority, however.......

He stinks running out of the shotgun. He doesn't have the speed/quickness to get outside against most D's. He usually only gains what's blocked between the tackles. He doesn't have that extra gear to turn 7 yard gains into 15. He only has three 20+ yard gains this season and two of them were for 22 and 21 yards. The last Cleveland game padded his stats a bit.

My question arises from is all of it truly his fault??

1. ZT and Co. aren't about the run game by and large. Mixon had 10 games this season with less than 15 carries!!

2. The Oline excuse. I'm not a big believer in the all/most of Maxon's problems are blocking related. However, I also think it's fair to say on many plays our run blocking did him no favors.

3. The sweep and pitches outside to Mixon are just a bad idea. It certainly hurts his stats. 1 yard gain, -2, back to LOS and so on.

It's not a big mystery, I'm not a big Joe Mixon fan. But to be fair is it really all his fault?? Is he worth bring back as a spell back and 3rd down receiver/goal line?

It's not a big secret either that I'm a big believer in the lack of an efficient running game is in the top three of the Bengals biggest problems'

They need a power runner. His tough runs are undeniable and mentioned by Romo and James Lofton the last few weeks. Chase Brown is not. It would be great if Mixon was good in pass pro. I think that as far as TE & RB depending who’s available round 2 will dictate some decisions.

only if he takes another pay cut.

Mixon will be kept, I'm pretty sure. He has value left but he just isn't the guy you want to lead a rushing attack. For reference, Mixon averaged 1.5 yards before contact this season. That sounds awful until you learn that league average is 1.3. The median is 1.2. Out of 68 qualified backs, Mixon averaged the 23rd highest yards before contact in the league. His ability to read the play and find his lanes has never been in doubt. It's just once he gets the ball in his hands, he isn't a threat to do much with it because he can't make people miss. Even this past weekend, his huge run was a product of fantastic blocking. The first defender who attempted to tackle him was able to stop him successfully in a situation where he should have been able to get by him. The narrative with him is he largely gets you what is blocked for him and little more. He is 23rd in yards before contact and 55th in yards after contact.



I would be very happy with Mixon as a receiving back and part of a rotation. I am less happy with him as the guy getting the lions share of the carries. 

(01-09-2024, 11:52 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: Mixon will be kept, I'm pretty sure. He has value left but he just isn't the guy you want to lead a rushing attack. For reference, Mixon averaged 1.5 yards before contact this season. That sounds awful until you learn that league average is 1.3. The median is 1.2. Out of 68 qualified backs, Mixon averaged the 23rd highest yards before contact in the league. His ability to read the play and find his lanes has never been in doubt. It's just once he gets the ball in his hands, he isn't a threat to do much with it because he can't make people miss. Even this past weekend, his huge run was a product of fantastic blocking. The first defender who attempted to tackle him was able to stop him successfully in a situation where he should have been able to get by him. The narrative with him is he largely gets you what is blocked for him and little more. He is 23rd in yards before contact and 55th in yards after contact.



I would be very happy with Mixon as a receiving back and part of a rotation. I am less happy with him as the guy getting the lions share of the carries.

Right. my same thoughts.

We badly need a true #1 RB or whatever you want to call it. I'm not convinced C. Brown is it either?? He's flashed at times by I think he'll pan out as more of a spell back/receiver type than a true bell cow. The rest of the RB room needs gone.

(01-09-2024, 12:37 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Right. my same thoughts.

We badly need a true #1 RB or whatever you want to call it. I'm not convinced C. Brown is it either?? He's flashed at times by I think he'll pan out as more of a spell back/receiver type than a true bell cow. The rest of the RB room needs gone.

Agreed. Evans is a waste. Williams is not good. They need to draft a big north and south punisher.

(01-09-2024, 11:52 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: Mixon will be kept, I'm pretty sure. He has value left but he just isn't the guy you want to lead a rushing attack. For reference, Mixon averaged 1.5 yards before contact this season. That sounds awful until you learn that league average is 1.3. The median is 1.2. Out of 68 qualified backs, Mixon averaged the 23rd highest yards before contact in the league. His ability to read the play and find his lanes has never been in doubt. It's just once he gets the ball in his hands, he isn't a threat to do much with it because he can't make people miss. Even this past weekend, his huge run was a product of fantastic blocking. The first defender who attempted to tackle him was able to stop him successfully in a situation where he should have been able to get by him. The narrative with him is he largely gets you what is blocked for him and little more. He is 23rd in yards before contact and 55th in yards after contact.



I would be very happy with Mixon as a receiving back and part of a rotation. I am less happy with him as the guy getting the lions share of the carries. 

As we have all watched Mixon every game I'm sure. The eye test doesn't match the 23rd yards before contact. Is this stat simply due to running out of shotgun? But I do agree we should probably be trying to get another back this offseason and do runningback by committee if we keep Mixon. 

If we run the ball from under center, yes keep him. If we keep up this stupid shotgun handoff stuff, it doesn't matter who's out there. Mixon does have great ball security, good hands, and did look to improve on pass pro this year but he's still no threat to take it to the house.

(01-09-2024, 12:45 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Agreed. Evans is a waste. Williams is not good. They need to draft a big north and south punisher.

Agree with this. I think we're largely seen enough to prove that the group we have, or the way we use them, just doesn't really get it done. Our rushing attack just isn't a good enough factor. Either we change what we do, or maybe the more likely of the two, we try to find a guy who can run over people.

I think that they'll keep him to play out the final year of his contract. Even after that, they'll likely offer him at least a modest deal to stay on. Front office is extremely loyal to players they drafted. (Except Whitworth, of course..)

(01-09-2024, 01:59 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: As we have all watched Mixon every game I'm sure. The eye test doesn't match the 23rd yards before contact. Is this stat simply due to running out of shotgun? But I do agree we should probably be trying to get another back this offseason and do runningback by committee if we keep Mixon. 

Shotgun or under center wouldn’t affect this stat. It is yards from LOS not from handoff. ProbFootball Reference tells a similar story with Mixon at 19th. So, two major data providers are resulting in the same conclusion.

He'll be another year older so I suppose Mixon will eventually have noticeable decline with his production.

I think they bring him back, but perhaps Brown gets more carries and reps.

(01-09-2024, 02:22 PM)Mer Wrote: If we run the ball from under center, yes keep him. If we keep up this stupid shotgun handoff stuff, it doesn't matter who's out there. Mixon does have great ball security, good hands, and did look to improve on pass pro this year but he's still no threat to take it to the house.

(01-09-2024, 02:36 PM)TecmoBengals Wrote: He'll be another year older so I suppose Mixon will eventually have noticeable decline with his production.

I think they bring him back, but perhaps Brown gets more carries and reps.

I can't even imagine what that would look like?

(01-09-2024, 02:33 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: Shotgun or under center wouldn’t affect this stat. It is yards from LOS not from handoff. ProbFootball Reference tells a similar story with Mixon at 19th. So, two major data providers are resulting in the same conclusion.

I'm not saying Mixon is leaps and bounds better running between the tackles than under center, but to me the eye test says it's so. It sure appears he dances and waits to long when running from the shotgun. And he doesn't have the moves/quickness to run with that style.

To me he's more of a one cut what used to be called downhill runner.

I wouldn't have an issue with the from-shotgun runs if the guys up front were taught how to block for it. They rarely push defenders off the LoS right now, so it's nearly impossible to spread a DLine out properly for those to work. Again, Zac wants to run wide zone but signs and drafts guys unsuited for it.

(01-09-2024, 02:52 PM)The D.O.Z. Wrote: I wouldn't have an issue with the from-shotgun runs if the guys up front were taught how to block for it. They rarely push defenders off the LoS right now, so it's nearly impossible to spread a DLine out properly for those to work. Again, Zac wants to run wide zone but signs and drafts guys unsuited for it.

Doesn't that RPO "crap" IMHO help make that shotgun run blocking suck ??

(01-09-2024, 02:47 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I can't even imagine what that would look like?

3.6 Y/A.

(01-09-2024, 02:54 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Doesn't that RPO "crap" IMHO help make that shotgun run blocking suck ??

Yes. But RPOs are deadly if you have the horses. We simply do not. We have guys suited more for single gap, power stuff. In hindsight, had they drafted and signed FA who fit the scheme instead of signing guys because they were a perceived upgrade to what they had or had the measurables they covet, Joe wouldn't have been taking so many hits and Joe M could have been more effective these last two plus seasons.