CINCINNATI (AP) — When the Bengals raised the curtain on their new offense Kentrell Brice Jersey , Joe Mixon was front and center.
The second-year running back was the focus of Cincinnati’s redesigned offense on Sunday, getting all but one of the carries and finishing second in receiving. A 34-23 win at Indianapolis showed a different focus in coordinator Bill Lazor’s redesigned playbook.
There’s a lot of Mixon in everything.
“He made some explosive plays and he is so talented, he can do it all,” quarterback Andy Dalton said. “I thought he played really well.”
The Bengals (1-0) wasted no time giving him the spotlight. He ran for 7 yards on their opening play, and either carried the ball or was the intended receiver on seven of their first 14 plays.
He wound up carrying 17 times for 95 yards, a 5.6-yard average. Giovani Bernard got only one carry. Mixon also caught five passes for 54 yards, including a 21-yarder. Only A.J. Green had more catches. Mixon was on the field for 42 of Cincinnati’s 55 plays; Bernard was used only 14 times.
Mixon’s 1-yard dive with 4:05 to play put the Bengals ahead to stay at 24-23.
It’s the most significant difference from Mixon’s rookie season, when he shared time with Bernard and Jeremy Hill. Mixon got more carries later in the season when Hill got hurt. In the final game of the season, Mixon ran for 96 yards during a 31-27 win at Baltimore.
The Ravens (1-0) visit Paul Brown Stadium on Thursday night, coming off a 47-3 win over Buffalo that featured three touchdown passes by Joe Flacco.
Cincinnati finished last in the league in yards last season, and the running game was one of the worst in club history. A big part was the offensive line’s inability to open holes for running backs or give Dalton time to throw. The Bengals have four new starters on the line patrick mahomes stitched jersey , which did better in Indianapolis.
“They did a great job executing blocks,” Mixon said.
Dalton seemed at ease with the redesigned offense, completing 21 of 28 passes for 243 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His passer rating was 109.7. Dalton’s only mistake was a floated screen pass to Mixon that was intercepted.
“Andy played unbelievable,” Green said.
The Bengals knew they’d face a public backlash when they drafted Mixon in the second round in 2017 even though he’d punched a woman in the face while at Oklahoma. They valued his ability to catch passes and break long runs, and were willing to take the criticism for drafting him.
He’s emerged in his second season. Coach Marvin Lewis hopes he becomes a bigger part of the offense as the season goes along.
“You’d like to have more even,” Lewis said. “I think he can carry it 22 times.”
WILLIAMS WAITS
Safety Shawn Williams was waiting Monday to see if he gets suspended for his hit on Andrew Luck that drew a 15-yard penalty and an ejection.
Luck scrambled to get a first down and slid late. Williams hit him in the head with his shoulder, and there was helmet-to-helmet contact.
“If it’s up to me, he should slide and give himself up and he didn’t,” Williams said. “It’s unfortunate to me that there was contact to his head with my shoulder. I’m trying to stop him from getting the first down.”
EIFERT’S RETURN
Tight end Tyler Eifert got into the game for 22 plays and had three catches for 26 yards, including a 17-yard gain. Eifert played in the first two games last season before a back injury sidelined him and required surgery. The Bengals are easing him back in as a precaution.
“This is as good as I’ve felt in a long time,” Eifert said.
RAVENS RETURN
The Ravens opened last season with a 20-0 win at Paul Brown Stadium Russell Okung Jersey , the first time in their history that the Bengals were blanked in a season opener. Baltimore ended the season hosting the Bengals and got their final disappointment, losing 31-27 on Dalton’s 49-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd with 44 seconds left. The loss eliminated Baltimore and put Buffalo in the playoffs.
Taking on the NFL and football’s Super Bowl champs, President Donald Trump gave the boot to a White House ceremony for the Philadelphia Eagles and instead threw his own brief ”Celebration of America” after it became clear most players weren’t going to show up.Both sides traded hot accusations about who was to blame.
Trump tried to turn the fracas into a referendum on patriotism and tie it to the dispute over players who have taken a knee during the national anthem to protest racism and police brutality. However, Eagles players never knelt during the ”Star-Spangled Banner,” throughout the 2017 season and their march to the Super Bowl.
The White House accused Eagles team members of pulling a ”political stunt” and abandoning their fans by backing out at the last minute. Indeed, few apparently were going to come, though some expressed disappointment that they’d been disinvited and complained Trump was unfairly painting them as anti-American.
CLEVELAND (AP) – Stephen Curry and LeBron James spoke their minds last year. They have not changed their minds this year.
No matter whose team wins the NBA championship, neither superstar will be at the White House anytime soon.
On the day when the Philadelphia Eagles were supposed to be there to commemorate winning the Super Bowl – a visit that was canceled by President Donald Trump – Curry and James were among those speaking out at the NBA Finals in support of the Eagles.
GYMNASTICS
WASHINGTON (AP) – The former president of USA Gymnastics refused to answer questions from a Senate subcommittee about how he handled allegations of sexual abuse by former team doctor Larry Nassar, and another former executive sat next to him and asserted that her former boss instructed her and others to keep quiet about athletes’ claims.
Rhonda Faehn, the former senior vice president of USA Gymnastics, said she first reported an allegation against Nassar to Steve Penny Charles Clay Jersey , her then-boss, on June 17, 2015. Nassar was not arrested until more than a year later. He is now serving decades in prison for sexual assault and possession of child pornography, and hundreds of athletes have said they were abused by him, including Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Simone Biles.
The revelations about Nassar’s conduct over two decades and the way it was handled by Penny and others have led Congress to call for drastic reforms of the U.S. Olympic Committee, USA Gymnastics and other sports’ governing bodies.
Faehn said Penny warned her and others not to discuss the allegations against Nassar and that she wrongly assumed he had taken the allegations to law enforcement.
NHL
NEW YORK (AP) – Lou Lamoriello moved quickly to shake up the New York Islanders by firing coach Doug Weight and general manager Garth Snow and naming himself the team’s new GM just two weeks after taking over as president of hockey operations.
Lamoriello made the moves that begin to reshape the organization in his image, two weeks to the day ownership said he’d have ”full authority over all hockey matters.” Lamoriello left the Toronto Maple Leafs to run the Islanders and will begin the search for a new coach immediately.
The end of Snow’s tenure seemed inevitable after owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin brought in Lamoriello to oversee the hockey operations department. The Islanders missed the playoffs eight times in Snow’s 12 years as general manager, including the past two seasons.
Weight, who took over for the fired Jack Capuano in January 2017, just finished his first full season as head coach.
HORSE RACING
NEW YORK (AP) – Something Bob Baffert always dreads has come true ahead of the Belmont Stakes: Justify drew the No. 1 post for the colt’s bid to sweep the Triple Crown.
The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner was made the early 4-5 favorite in the 10-horse field for Saturday’s race.
Baffert is not a fan of the inside post for his horses Albert Wilson Jersey , no matter what the race.
History, however, may be on Justify’s side. Since 1905, a leading 23 horses have won from the No. 1 post. The last to win from there was Empire Maker in 2003 when he spoiled Funny Cide’s Triple Crown bid.
Justify won the first two legs of the series from the No. 7 post. He ran on sloppy tracks both times and the forecast for Saturday calls for a 60 percent chance of rain.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Pitcher Meghan King settled down after a rough start to complete a record-setting Women’s College World Series, and Florida State beat Washington 8-3 to claim its first national title.
The Seminoles (58-12) won the best-of-three championship series 2-0. They lost their opener before winning six straight to become just the third team to come through the losers’ bracket and take the title.
King broke a World Series record for lowest ERA among pitchers who threw at least 10 innings with a mark of 0.20. She earned four wins and a save in Oklahoma City while allowing just one earned run in 34 1/3 innings.
King was on such a run that Florida State’s ace throughout the season, Kylee Hanson, never had to pitch in the championship series.
Florida State’s Jessie Warren, who hit .520 in the World Series, was named most outstanding player. She went 3 for 4 with a homer on Tuesday.
TENNIS
PARIS (AP) – Novak Djokovic’s neck was bothering him. Then his right leg was.
The way he faltered at the most crucial of moments in the French Open
quarterfinals might have hurt him the most against an opponent who never won a
Grand Slam match until last week and Womens
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