Bengals player personnel director Duke Tobin said that Mixon will be the lead running back next season, and they plan to lean on him heavily. This isn't a surprise considering Mixon began getting double-digit carries when Jeremy Hill went on injured reserve late in the season. It does essentially seal Hill's imminent departure, however. Hill will be a free agent in March, and has already posted his goodbyes to Cincinnati on social media. He was not even mentioned during Tobin's news conference at the NFL scouting combine Wednesday.

http://www.espn.com/blog/cincinnati-bengals/post/_/id/29659/bengals-plan-to-make-joe-mixon-the-bell-cow-running-back-in-2018

Not a big surprise there. Joe looked pretty good at times, when the blocking was there. I'll be curious to see how well he holds up, as the primary back for an entire NFL season. Have to remember that he essentially split the load with Perine at Oklahoma.

(02-28-2018, 08:17 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Not a big surprise there.  Joe looked pretty good at times, when the blocking was there.  I'll be curious to see how well he holds up, as the primary back for an entire NFL season.  Have to remember that he essentially split the load with Perine at Oklahoma.

Yeah, durability ain't our middle name around here. I'd be surprised if Gio doesn't get a significant amount of snaps, though. Gotta keep him in the game enough to prevent his presence from becoming predictable.

(02-28-2018, 08:17 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Have to remember that he essentially split the load with Perine at Oklahoma.

I'm not even going to touch this remark.  

I love it.

Mixon impressed me in limited work and now I love that he'll get more carries and can hopefully get into a rhythm. We need our offense to have flexibility and the ability to beat defenses in many ways.

What excites me even more is the how Mixon will do behind an improved offensive line that finally has a good coach and hopefully a FA (or two) and draft picks to run behind to make him further be able to showcase his skills.

I'm praying that Marvin doesn't get in Lazor's head and force him to go run-heavy and become predictable, but I don't think he will.

I also love the article's mention of Ross and think that he could be dangerous for us and stretch the field opposite of AJ. I think we have a few big playmakers on offense! We just need the line to improve.

(02-28-2018, 08:17 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Not a big surprise there.  Joe looked pretty good at times, when the blocking was there.  I'll be curious to see how well he holds up, as the primary back for an entire NFL season.  Have to remember that he essentially split the load with Perine at Oklahoma.

That's every RB ever. That's like saying a QB looked good when he had a perfect pocket and wide open WRs. Lol

3.5 YPC, and a LOT of loss/1 yard gains.

Gio's career is going to continue to be wasted.

Predictable and expected, however incorrect the move may be.

I have no clue why this team continues to neglect Gio Bernard when he regularly shows that he’s the most explosive playmaker on the field.

...or why the fans support it.

(02-28-2018, 09:09 PM)Johnny Cupcakes Wrote: Predictable and expected, however incorrect the move may be.

I have no clue why this team continues to neglect Gio Bernard when he regularly shows that he’s the most explosive playmaker on the field.

...or why the fans support it.

This is where I'm at. It should be Gio's job to lose. 

Both Gio and Mixon should be getting considerable touches this year.

Still trying to figure out why he was benched for the second half at Pittsburgh

When they have Gio on the roster, Mixon should not be the bell-cow back.

Instead, they should be used based on what the situation dictates that their skill sets can exploit.

But if Mixon will be the bell-cow, Bengals will be idiots if they do not get Gio in the game as much as possible like as hybrid slot/te for example. He is too good to not see the field when there is literally no other proven playmaker on offense other than AJ.

(02-28-2018, 09:46 PM)Millhouse Wrote: When they have Gio on the roster, Mixon should not be the bell-cow back.

Instead, they should be used based on what the situation dictates that their skill sets can exploit.

But if Mixon will be the bell-cow, Bengals will be idiots if they do not get Gio in the game as much as possible like as hybrid slot/te for example. He is too good to not see the field when there is literally no other proven playmaker on offense other than AJ.

Bingo.

We have the best of both worlds with these two RB's. Might as well take advantage of it...

We'll see if the team is that smart.

With just Joe and Gio splitting carries, there should be plenty for both....

I think you guys are reading too much into this "bell cow" comment.

It has been 8 years since a Bengal RB had as many as 300 carries in a season.

Gio will still get a ton of touches.

(02-28-2018, 10:01 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I think you guys are reading too much into this "bell cow" comment.

It has been 8 years since a Bengal RB had as many as 300 carries in a season.

Gio will still get a ton of touches.

I'm not sure how you can make this claim.  Through 10 games last season Gio had 49 total touches.  31 carries and 18 receptions.  I recall starting a thread on "where is Gio?"  He averaged fewer than 5 touches a game through 10 games and then only in the last 6 games did he get 71 carries, (almost 12 per game)  and 25 receptions (almost 4 per game) to get around 16 touches a game.  With the Bengals once again anointing Mixon the starter, as they essentially did last season when Hill went down, and saying they're going to feed him the ball (regardless of the facts he struggled mightily, and Gio was outperforming him) what do you base your assumptions on that Gio will still get his carries?  Gio and Mixon essentially split carries the last 6 games with Mixon getting 74.  This is when they were BOTH most effective.

(02-28-2018, 10:32 PM)Shepdawg Wrote: I'm not sure how you can make this claim.  Through 10 games last season Gio had 49 total touches.  31 carries and 18 receptions.  I recall starting a thread on "where is Gio?"  He averaged fewer than 5 touches a game through 10 games and then only in the last 6 games did he get 71 carries, (almost 12 per game)  and 25 receptions (almost 4 per game) to get around 16 touches a game.  With the Bengals once again anointing Mixon the starter, as they essentially did last season when Hill went down, and saying they're going to feed him the ball (regardless of the facts he struggled mightily, and Gio was outperforming him) what do you base your assumptions on that Gio will still get his carries?  Gio and Mixon essentially split carries the last 6 games with Mixon getting 74.  This is when they were BOTH most effective.

Hill will not be here this year, and Gio and Mixon split the carries the last 6 games.

I see no reason to think that will change.  Mixon will get more carries than Bernard, but Bernard will still get 100 to 150.

(02-28-2018, 10:48 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Hill will not be here this year, and Gio and Mixon split the carries the last 6 games.

I see no reason to think that will change.  Mixon will get more carries than Bernard, but Bernard will still get 100 to 150.

This is the reason... "Bengals player personnel director Duke Tobin said that Mixon will be the lead running back next season, and they plan to lean on him heavily."  This would indicate the Bengals plan to go back to the way they split the load for the first 10 games.  Mixon had 104 carries to Gios 31.  I hope you're right and they split carries more evenly.  I think Gio is underutilized as it is.  He needs to be getting his 15 touches a game for him and this offense to be most effective.

I just take that as them talking the young guy up. I think Gio will still get a lot of touches I just wish they would figure out how to get both on the field at the same time and quit wasting playing time on less talented guys like Boyd. I am willing to bet that Gio could play receiver better.

(02-28-2018, 11:54 PM)Shepdawg Wrote:   This would indicate the Bengals plan to go back to the way they split the load for the first 10 games.  Mixon had 104 carries to Gios 31.

And Hill had 37.

Give those to Gio and he has 68 through 10 games.  That is over 100 for the season.

They will both get their share I believe.

The reason Gio is not used as much is that Gruden said the exact type of back he would bring in his second year. Having to address WR and QB his first plus being saddled with the Lawfirm. Then went and drafted Gio.

The other OC's want a different style back and are stubbornly trying to force their guys to be the man.