Joe Mixon ran for 114 yards and a touchdown against Cleveland, sealing the game with his late score. He also caught three passes for 51 yards. It was the first time a Bengals running back had cleared the 100-yard mark in almost a year, and the highest single-game rushing total since Jeremy Hill's 168 yards against the Browns on Oct. 23, 2016.
After months of trying to figure out how to split carries with Hill and mesh with an inconsistent offensive line, Mixon hopes it’s finally been figured out. With Jeremy Hill now on injured reserve, Mixon has been getting 20 carries a game, with mixed results until last week.
“You catch a groove and once you get to feeling it, everything else will take care of itself,” Mixon said. “The line was blocking their ass off and the receivers doing the same thing. We all got committed to running downhill and that's what we did. At the end of the day, everything took care of itself. We all bought in and it was just amazing.”
Mixon was splitting carries with Hill and Giovani Bernard for much of the season, but has really seen his workload climb with Hill being out and likely done as a Bengal. The story added another positive sign for Mixson could be how he steps up on Monday night against the Steelers.