Bengals Rookie Amarius Mims Uses Advice From One Teammate, Earns Nickname From Another After Blanking Maxx Crosby

Jay Morrison | Nov 4, 2024

Oct 6, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Amarius Mims (71) reacts after a play in the first half against the Baltimore Ravens at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI – Somewhat lost among Joe Burrow’s career-high five touchdown passes and Trey Hendrickson’s career-high four sacks Sunday in the Cincinnati Bengals' 41-24 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders was another accomplishment.

The number is smaller, but no less significant.

Bengals rookie right tackle Amarius Mims helped hold Raiders Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby without a sack.

Center Ted Karras used the occasion to give Mims a new nickname: “The Shutout King.”

“I’m just a regular dude,” Mims said with his typical aww-shucks delivery. “One moment to last. One moment to occur again.”

Crosby lined up on Mims’ side of the offensive line on 67 of his 74 snaps Sunday. Mims held Crosby without a sack, marking just the third time in edge rusher's last 10 games that has happened, and limited him to just two pressures.

The three tackles Crosby had were tied for his season low, though he did tie his season-high with three quarterback hits against Joe Burrow – and a fourth that didn’t count but drew an unnecessary roughness penalty and some regret from Karras.

“One of the best players in the league,” Mims said of Crosby. “Maxx is a man of many tricks. He has a lot of moves in his arsenal. We were just being patient this week, not trying to play outside my comfort zone.

Mims credited teammate Orlando Brown Jr., with helping him get ready for Crosby in the days leading up to the game.

“He was talking to me the whole week,” Mims said. “Before practice, after practice, in meetings, here in the locker room. He’s a great teammate.”

Brown had more time than usual to work with Mims because he didn’t practice all week due to a knee injury he originally suffered Oct. 27 in Cleveland and then re-aggravated last week against Philadelphia.

The injury forced Brown to miss the first game of his career, but he continued his mentoring of Mims on the sideline throughout the game.

“The biggest thing is too often in this league at the tackle position, people are quick to cater their game to others,” Brown said. “Maxx is so unique and so special in so many different ways.

“But (Mims) is the most talented guy in our room,” Brown said. “He has all the ability and intangibles in the world. So my biggest advice to him was just be yourself. You're playing big, winning with great body positioning and footwork. Trust in your eyes and what you're seeing and get off the snap and put yourself in great position to be able to re-direct and react to any type of different rushes or unique things he throws at you.”

While Mims tried to downplay the significance of blanking such an elite pass rusher, Brown said he knows that’s the kind of performance that can really jumpstart a young career.

Because he’s lived it.

In his third career start, he faced Pittsburgh’s. T.J. Watt and held him to one pressure, no hits and a 3-percent win rate.

“I was pretty much one-on-one the whole game,” Brown said. “He got a pressure on me, but overall, that was the first game for me where I was like 'OK, I've got a chance here.’”

And just as will be the case for Mims when he sees Baltimore’s Nnamdi Madubuike, the Chargers’ Joey Bosa, Watt and Dallas’ Micah Parsons in the next four games, Brown said the key is using the confidence to repeat the performance.

A few weeks after blanking Watt, Brown faced Kansas City’s Dee Ford in the middle of his career high 13-sack season.

The Baltimore coaches put Brown in a bunch of true one-on-one situations with Ford, and Brown held him to two pressures and no sacks.

Though Brown didn’t play Sunday against the Raiders, his experience was on full display, living out through Mims.

“I just had a good plan and some great coaching from Orlando this week,” Mims said. “He was telling me it's going to be a game of patience. Maxx is a man of many tricks. He had a lot of moves in his arsenal. We were just being patient this week, just playing. 

“I watched so much film on that man and got tips from Orlando and just tried to do the best I can.”

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