Bengals Running Back Delivers Warning to AFC Playoff Opponents

The defending AFC champions are not shy as they begin their quest to return to the Super Bowl.

Last year, the Bengals’ run to the Super Bowl caught most of the football world off guard. They won’t be sneaking up on anyone this time around—and, based on the words from their star running back, that’s just the way they prefer it.

Joe Mixon threw down the proverbial gauntlet on Thursday, three days before Cincinnati’s wild-card round matchup with the division rival Ravens. Fresh off a 27–16 win over Baltimore in Week 18, Mixon had a clear message for Sunday’s opponent and any other team standing in the way of the Bengals and the Super Bowl.

“We’re the big dogs of the AFC, and everybody knows that,” Mixon said. “They’re gunning for us, and we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. But at the end of the day, if we’re not turning the ball over and taking care of the little things, we can’t be beat. So we just got to go ahead and we’re going to take everybody’s best shot, but they better be ready to take ours.”

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Joe Mixon is well aware teams are going to try and spoil the #Bengals season. But he doesn’t care. And he has no problem expressing his confidence.

“We’re the big dogs of the AFC.” pic.twitter.com/FOKJuRBUf2

— Kelsey Conway (@KelseyLConway) January 12, 2023

Mixon and the Bengals certainly have good cause to be confident. Cincinnati enters the postseason riding an eight-game winning streak, with the offense averaging 29 points per game during that stretch.

When asked, Mixon said he wasn’t concerned about providing motivation for the Ravens or any other potential AFC opponent, doubling down on his assertion that the Bengals were the team to beat. 

“Whether it was the Bills, the Ravens, it can be bulletin board material for anybody. But the facts is the facts. When it comes down to it, we know when we take the field, can’t nobody touch us if we’re on our game. So we’ve just got to go ahead, go out there and take care of business so they know there’s no other way around it.”