HOUSTON – The identity of the Texans’ offense and its personality changed when punishing, versatile running back Joe Mixon arrived in an offseason trade from the Cincinnati Bengals.
A modest investment from general manager Nick Caserio in terms of draft capital, exchanging a seventh-round draft pick for a proven Pro Bowl runner, has paid off with major dividends. And the Texans, the defending AFC South champions, are in first place with Mixon as a vital part of an offense whose passing game has been up and down this season with injuries to star wide receivers Nico Collins and Stefon Diggs and an uptick in interceptions from Pro Bowl quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Recommended Videos
And Mixon has shown he can do it all. At 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, Mixon provides power, speed, elusiveness, contact balance and shiftiness and pass-catching skills out of the backfield.
Inside the locker room, Mixon is known as an authentic and very real, bold outspoken voice who demands a lot from himself and his teammates. He doesn’t mince words and he cares a lot about the team. He’s been the tone-setter and the definition of tough.
The Texans believed in Mixon enough to sign him to a three-year. $27 million extension as soon as he was acquired, showing faith in his skills and staying power.
“Honestly, just his mentality, just comes in every day, just being himself,” Stroud said. “Then, obviously, what he does on the field, he is very special with the ball in his hand.”
Although he missed three games with an ankle injury suffered on an illegal tackle from Chicago Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards, Mixon has rushed for 764 yards and 10 touchdowns as he’s averaging 4.5 yards per carry. He has rushed for six 100-yard games and is on pace to finish the season with 1,181 yards and 15 touchdown runs.
“I feel like pretty much throughout the year, the run has been definitely beneficial for us,” Mixon said. “I think that the linemen are doing a hell of a job. Obviously I’m finding the holes and trying to do whatever we can to make the most of every carry. I feel like with what we’re doing and how we’re starting to click and practice, once we put that together in a game, that (stuff) is going to look pretty good. I can’t wait for it.”
Mixon is the fifth player in NFL history to have at least 90 yards from scrimmage and run for a touchdown in seven of his first eight games in a season, joining Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, Priest Holmes and LeSean McCoy. He had a 45-yard touchdown run, his longest score of the season, in a 109-yard rushing performance against the Dallas Cowboys last Monday night in a blowout victory. And he has nine rushing touchdowns in the past six games, the most in franchise history in that span.
In the last five games alone, Mixon has rushed for 478 yards and eight touchdowns. He has 18 catches for 203 yards and one score this season. Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik keeps dialing up run calls for Mixon, who has 119 carries in the last five games and an average of 4.1 yards per run as one of the most productive backs in the league.
“It’s a great thing,” Mixon said of the statistical milestones. “The stats is when you look back and are able to reflect that I was in that conversation. Looking back like now, ‘That’s a hell of an accomplishment. Without my teammates being locked in and bought into the run game and coach Slow trusting in us and doing whatever we can to keep on battling and everybody being in sync with each other. I’m just going to keep playing my role and doing whatever I can to keep the offense going, staying on the offensive linemen, making sure the will and want-to is there. And C.J., he’s going to lock in with them receivers, bro. It’s a hell of a thing.” Now, it’s time to turn the chapter.”
#Texans running back Joe Mixon @Joe_MainMixon on his winning mentality, the running game and more @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/6TsujxfoQA
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) November 21, 2024
The Texans face a challenge Sunday against the 2-8 Titans who have a stout run defense, especially in the middle with heavyweight defensive tackles Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat.
“With Tennessee, their defense, it stands out starting up front with Simmons and Sweat, two big players that are hard to move,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “They make it difficult, very difficult to run the ball against them because they do such a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage and they’re two guys who are really hard to displace just because of their size and their power. So, that is the focal point for us is how do we handle their defensive line because that is their strength right now.”
Slowik called the Titans’ front overall “the best we’ve faced this year.”
And squaring off with a bully means standing up to a bully. The kind of leader Mixon is, he’s built for that job.
And he was voted a team captain in balloting from teammates after Diggs was lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
“It just shows that your peers, it shows the respect that they have for you, first and foremost. It doesn’t change anything responsibility-wise,” Ryans said. “It’s just a matter of you continuing to go out and being the same guy you are. And most of the time, for me, captains are about what you show on the field, not what you say. Being a captain doesn’t mean you have to have to break down more huddles or have more meetings, it’s just about going out and continuing to show people why you’re the leader by the work that you put in.
“And that’s what Joe did before he was a captain. He showed that by his work and all of our guys in the locker room respect Joe for how he shows up, not only on game day, but each and every day in practice, the energy he brings, uplifting everybody on our team, everybody respects that, everybody sees it. So, it’s easy to see why he’s a captain. He’s a guy that guys would like to follow or should follow if you’re a young player trying to figure it out, you just watch Joe practice and that’s how it should look.”
Over the past five games, Mixon has had carries of 25, 25, 24, 25 and 20 carries. With the exception of the Detroit Lions stonewalling Mixon as he was held to 46 yards and a 1.8 average on 25 carries with one touchdown run as they had nine tackles for losses in that game, the Texans have been relying heavily on him and it’s been an effective strategy.
#Texans Pro Bowl running back Joe Mixon @Joe_MainMixon on pride in three touchdown runs and offensive line's efforts surely worthy of a nice dinner and how he's in elite company with legendary backs statistically @KPRC2 pic.twitter.com/FiVoJAhKXg
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) November 19, 2024
“I hope for whatever wins,” Slowik said. “We look at balance as keeping the defense off balance. There is times where that winds up being fairly close run blitz, there is times where that winds up being a lot of passes. We have gone into games, I think we had a few games this year where we ran the ball less than 15 times, if that is our mindset going into it. That really is, for us, our mindset every game and then beyond that it is really a function of, how do we stay on schedule?
“We have talked about it a lot. We have had more third-and-longs more than anyone else in the NFL and if we start going backwards in the NFL life gets really hard. When we stay on schedule and we are ahead of the sticks, we play good football. We were able to do that last week.”
From an interpersonal standpoint, this is what Mixon is about: getting the job done, not being politically correct. He’s raw and real.
“Honestly, it’s just me and that’s my personality and the mentality is mainly will and want-to,” Mixon said. “Once everybody has got that same mentality and is locked in for 60 minutes that will take us a long way. It all comes down to execution. That started when I was young. It got more glorified the older I got. It’s been a great thing being around my teammates and being able to uplift them. If that’s something I can give to you, I’ll do whatever I can to bring my teammates up to my level and have everybody playing at a high level.”
Against the Cowboys, Mixon had153 total yards from scrimmage and is now the fourth running back in franchise history to run for three touchdowns in a single game.
“It’s always love with Joe,” Pro Bowl left tackle Laremy Tunsil said. “Joe is a damn good back. He’s going to find the holes and he’s going to split them. He is tough.”
Mixon keeps hitting the century mark, almost every week.
“Joe is always going to make plays,” right tackle Tytus Howard said. “He runs guys over. He’s having a Pro Bowl type of season. Joe’s a dawg, man. He’s like that, for real.”
And Mixon appreciates the offensive line for their work.
“Them buys, they all bought in and I appreciate their will and want-to for key blocks down the field and big blocks in the box,” Mixon said. “I need to keep setting the tone, keep those guys fired up and keep finishing. Them guys, they bought in with the run game and doing whatever they can to open holes and I’m just staying in sync with them.
“I took my hat off to them boys. They go hard for four quarters and just go out there and impose their win. It’s a great thing to see from the linemen. As a running back, I appreciate that, especially with us being in sync.”
So, who’s treating for a celebratory dinner?
“Them boys were talking about me, but I’ll take them out before they take me out,” Mixon said. “I just told them boys, we ran out of soap. Jerry Jones wasn’t messing with us. You feel me? I ended up having an extra bar of soap.
“All those boys were like, ‘Man, we ain’t got no soap.’ That’s what I might get y’all next week. I might get y’all boys some soap. Just the chemistry that we’ve built on and off the field is a great thing, and we just got to keep it going.”
Read more on the Texans:
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com.
