After Texans running back Joe Mixon had 30 carries in the first game of his eighth NFL season, I told him by phone that he’s too old for that kind of workload.
“Shit,” he said, “I’m just reaching my prime.”
The Texans agree. On Thursday, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik suggested that Mixon will continue to get a healthy (and perhaps unhealthy) share of touches.
“Physically, I’d say he’s probably one of the few guys remaining in the NFL that could handle that,” Slowik told reporters. “I mean, there’s not many offenses you’re going to run the ball to the same guy 30 times over and over, and over and over again every week. But I’m not really worried about his workload in that regard. He’s just built and has in his past, done that before and is built to do that.”
It became clear that the ultimate decisions about ball distribution will be strategic.
“But it really is more of we’ll give Joe the ball as many times as necessary and we’ll give [receiver] Nico [Collins] the ball as many times as necessary and we’ll give [receiver Stefon Diggs] the ball as many times as necessary and [receiver] Tank [Dell] and like really all the way across the board,” Slowik said. “And every game’s going to wind up playing out different. So, in that game, it was a 30-carry game for Joe and when you have 30 carries and you’re averaging over four, in his case five a carry, that’s a heck of a day.”
Yes it is. And we’ll see if it happens again on Sunday night, when the Texans host the Bears on NBC and Peacock.