Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon said Thursday that his NFL opponents stopped laughing at the team after it won the AFC North title in the 2021 season.
“Everyone used to laugh at us, look at the schedule and say, we’re going to play the Bengals! It’s only one week for the stats. Now they don’t laugh or joke anymore. They know this has changed, they know how we are,” he said. the player in conference.
The Bengals finished atop their division with a record of 10 wins and seven losses; They will start their participation in the playoffs at home next Saturday against the Las Vegas Raiders, a duel that the 25-year-old Mixon hoped to overcome.
“Now we have the right pieces, we have all the weapons we need to be able to be in games like this where we can compete for championships and the rivals know that they have to take us into account,” he argued.
Cincinnati hadn’t made the postseason since 2015. In the 2020 season, it finished with a 4-11-1 record.
Coach Zac Taylor’s team, with three years on the team, in the first two seasons they accumulated six wins had 25 falls and one draw, the worst mark in the NFL in that period, a situation that changed in 2021.
The present looks promising with an offense led by Mixon, 1,205 rushing yards, third in the league; along with quarterback Joe Burrow, 25, sixth in passing yards gained with 4,611.
Not forgetting the contribution of Ja’Marr Chase, 21, fourth in receiving yards with 1,455.
The Bengals are the third team in NFL history with a passer, Barrow, with more than 4,000 yards; a running back who exceeds 1,000 yards, Mixon; and a receiver with more than 1,000 yards, Chase; all three with 25 years or less, in one season.
Cincinnati has not won a postseason game since 1990, since then in its 18 classifications they have accumulated eight losses, which represents the longest streak in the NFL.
In the history of the league the Bengals have twice reached the Super Bowl, both times, 1982 and 1989, they lost to the San Francisco 49ers.
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Joe Mixon claims NFL rivals stopped laughing at the Bengals