Joe Mixon has the attention of Bill Belichick.
While Mixon couldn’t singlehandedly help the Cincinnati Bengals take down the New England Patriots in Sunday’s 34-13 loss, his massive effort and display of talent didn’t go unnoticed.
Belichick hit the postgame presser and dropped some noteworthy praise, to say the least: “(Joe) Mixon is a good one, too. He probably is the best back in the league. He runs so hard and is so hard to tackle.”
He also explained how one of the early plays foreshadowed a long day for his defense:
“That first toss play Mixon hit on us, we had like five guys miss tackles on him. We knew he was going to be a hard guy to tackle and he was today. We were ready for him, he just did a good job.”
Those Bengals fans who have screamed about Mixon being one of the NFL’s best certainly feel some validation here. Mixon cruised to 136 yards on 25 carries (5.4 average) and now has 100-plus yards in two consecutive games and a rushing score in three of his last five.
Mixon’s turnaround from a rough start to the season due to injury, line play and coaching approach has been one for the ages. He’s now staring a 1,000-yard season in the face and while he won’t lead the AFC in rushing like last year, those in the know like Belichick are well aware of what he’s doing.
