There are a boatload of injuries swaying things here for the Cincinnati Bengals' rushing offense, both for them and for their opposition. We'll get to Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard in a second, but first, let's look at why the Bengals are intriguing in the first place.
They're squaring off with the Miami Dolphins, who haven't been bad on the whole against the rush this year. They're 20th, according to numberFire's metrics. But -- again -- full-season numbers don't always reflect the current situation.
The injuries have piled up in a hurry for the Dolphins over the past few games. It all started back in Week 3 when defensive end William Hayes suffered a torn ACL while tackling Derek Carr. In that same game, both Cameron Wake and Andre Branch also got banged up.
Branch missed Week 4 but returned to practice on Thursday. Wake did the opposite, gutting out Week 4 but missing practice both Wednesday and Thursday.
It's possible Branch is able to get back out there against the Bengals. But with Hayes gone and both Branch and Wake -- at best -- at less than 100%, it's no shock that opposing backs have started to move the ball on this defense.
With the injuries starting to accumulate in Week 3, let's split the Dolphins' season into two segments: first, what they did in the first two games with their defensive front fully healthy, then their efforts as things started to deteriorate. This is what you get.
| RBs Against Dolphins | Rushes | Yards Per Carry | Rushing NEP Per Carry | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First 2 Games | 43 | 3.30 | -0.13 | 30.2% |
| Past 2 Games | 65 | 4.22 | 0.03 | 43.1% |
They allowed 112 yards on 25 carries to Sony Michel last week. This time around, it's looking like they'll tango with Mixon.
Joe Mixon practicing, Giovani Bernard not for Bengals https://t.co/0mWwd3mIS7 pic.twitter.com/EhTodkiYbS
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) October 4, 2018
Mixon has missed the past two games, but he was healthy enough to tackle A.J. Green after Green scored the game-winning touchdown last week. It's looking like he'll be back out there in Week 5.
In the season opener -- Mixon's lone fully healthy game this year -- Mixon had 17 carries and 7 targets while playing 79% of the snaps. He racked up 21 carries the next week despite sustaining his knee injury in the first half. This team clearly wants to get the football in his hands, and this is the right matchup to do exactly that.
Because Bernard performed well while Mixon was out, it would be fair to have some reservations about Mixon jumping right back into a full workload. But now that Bernard is banged up as well, Mixon's appeal for tournaments in this matchup is fairly high at a price of $7,100.