A rare fumble could've been the difference-maker in what was a tightly-contested game right from the get-go. Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon had a crucial turnover with 12:20 left in a 13-13 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
He took the handoff from quarterback Joe Burrow and immediately felt pressure from opposing linebacker Denzel Perryman. The ball was let loose from Mixon's hands and was picked up by none other than former Bengals linebacker Nick Vigil. The sequence broke his long-standing streak of 987 days without a lost fumble. The Bolts eventually took the game on a 16-13 outcome and handed the Bengals' their first loss of the season.
“I owe the team. I owe it to them. Thursday is up,” Mixon said Tuesday, looking ahead on their next game against division rival Cleveland Browns.
Mixon repeatedly played the sequence multiple times with hopes of learning from his errors and not repeating the crucial botch in their coming games:
“I played it back even when (Bengals RB coach Jemal Singleton) showed me. I don't like looking at it. But … ‘Run that back one more time. Run it one more time.' Different angle,” he said, via the team's official website. “It sucks, but at the same time, no matter how bad it is, you have to learn from it. You have to just to see how you could have attacked it differently. How you could have held the ball and made a move off of it and these are things I'm accessing in my head.”
Despite the loss, the Bengals have a few bright spots to look forward to in their coming games. Burrow had himself a ballgame as he steered the offense with his 193 passing yards on a 23-of-36 clip along with a scored touchdown. Veteran Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green also made his long-awaited comeback on the field and finished with 51 receiving yards on 5 receptions.
Mixon and the rest of the Bengals will have their hands full as they tussle with the Browns for the chance to score their first win of the season.
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