Joe Mixon is understandably frustrated about his injury absence.
The Houston Texans are having a strong start to their 2024 NFL campaign. The Texans are 4-1 going into Week 6 despite missing one of their best offensive contributors. Former Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon got off to a hot debut with the Texans, but he suffered an ankle injury during Week 2's Chicago Bears victory that has held him out. Mixon expressed frustration about the play that has sidelined him amid his recovery.
During the second quarter of the Sep. 15 Bears-Texans game, TJ Edwards performed a hip-drop tackle on Mixon that resulted in the RB's ankle ailment. Mixon did not appreciate the tackle method and was disappointed the officials did not assess Edwards a penalty at the time of the incident. Roughly a week later, the NFL fined Edwards $16,833 for the illegal tackle.
Thankfully, Joe Mixon had a promising recovery period and returned to practice on Thursday. However, he understandably remains upset about his missed time.
“You got to think, I was No. 1 in the league in rushing. I want to be out there. Obviously, I was stopped because of that weak a** hip-drop tackle,” Mixon said in his first public comments since the ankle injury, per Jonathan Alexander of the Houston Chronicle.
In his first game and a half with the Texans, Mixon totaled a stout 184 yards and one TD on 39 carries. He added a strong dose of offense to support CJ Stroud and the rest of Houston's contributors. Mixon wishes he could have been on the field with his team in Weeks 3 through 5, but now, he continues to focus on ramping up his activity.
Mixon played an integral role in helping the Bengals advance to Super Bowl 56 in 2022 after a career year. He aspires to help the Texans achieve greatness of their own by the end of the 2024 season.
