Bengals: The part of Joe Mixon's game that must improve
Whether you believe running backs matter or not, the act of running the ball still holds plenty of weight in the current state of football. It keeps the defense from pinning its ears back every single down, and opens up more possibilities for the offense. The next stage of running back discourse needs to involve […]
Whether you believe running backs matter or not, the act of running the ball still holds plenty of weight in the current state of football. It keeps the defense from pinning its ears back every single down, and opens up more possibilities for the offense.
The next stage of running back discourse needs to involve the yards the player creates, the yards he's given from blocking, and the distinction between the two. Running backs who stand out on their own are the ones who end up mattering the most.
It's a group that Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon was so far from joining last season.
While other notable running backs like Nick Chubb and Aaron Jones spent the 2022 season forcing missed tackles and generating yards over expectation, Mixon fell short in both categories.
In a study done by Ryan Heath, Mixon ended up with the lowest missed tackles forced per attempt in the league last year, on par Kenyan Drake and Rachaad White, and a completely average rushing yards over expectation figure.
Forcing missed tackles is where Mixon saw a major drop off in 2022, and a quick look at his previous season is pretty jarring. Per Pro Football Focus, Mixon forced 53 missed tackles on 359 attempts in 2021 when he was named a Pro Bowler for the first time in his career.
While Mixon carried the ball just 249 times in 2022, the number of missed tackles he forced dropped to 26, over a 50% decrease compared to a 30% decrease in opportunity. His yards after contact per attempt of 2.61 was also drastically lower than his previous average of 3.03.
No matter what metric you use to quantify creating on your own, Mixon was near the bottom of the league in it. This removes the shield of having an underwhelming offensive line that did him no favors for the first half of the season, but as the 2021 season proved, there's more for the Bengals to get out of Mixon.
Time is of the essence for the soon-to-be 27-year old to get things back on track.
