The Bengals’ Joe Mixon tends to play “to some extent” in the Week 5 showdown against the Packers, compared to

The Cincinnati Bengals weren’t sure if they were going to have Joe Mixon this week. It turns out that the extra days off following “Thursday Night Football” helped his cause.

Mixon did a practice session on Saturday morning and tends to play “to some extent” for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. Mixon was unable to train all week due to an ankle injury sustained in the Week 4 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but head coach Zac Taylor gave a feeling of optimism by giving it a questionable injury designation.

Even if Mixon is playing, Samaje Perine would have to take on the workload. Perine has just three carries for seven yards in just 44 snaps. The reason for Perine’s limited action has more to do with Mixon, who has 83 carries for 353 yards and two touchdowns this year. A two-time 1,000-yard runner, Mixon missed the last 10 games of the 2020 season with an undisclosed foot injury, but has been relatively healthy during the first quarter of this year.

Mixon is third in the league in rushing rushing, averaging 88.3 rushing yards per game, and hasn’t recorded any fumbles in any game this year. The Bengals are 22nd in the league in running rush, so having Mixon available would be a huge boost against a Green Bay run defense that allows 4.3 yards per carry (17th in the NFL).

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