Bengals’ Mixon accused of pointing gun at woman
CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon has been charged in a warrant with a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing, according to online court records posted Thursday.
WCPO-TV, which obtained a copy of the warrant, reported that Mixon was accused of pointing a gun at a woman and saying, “You should be popped in the face. I should shoot you, the police (can’t) get me.”
The incident occurred on Jan. 21, the day before the Bengals beat the Buffalo Bills in a divisionalround playoff game, WCPO reported.
Court records did not list an attorney for Mixon.
The 26-year-old Mixon rushed for 814 yards and seven touchdowns this season, his sixth.
He also had 60 receptions for 441 yards, both career highs, and two touchdowns.
A second-round draft pick out of Oklahoma in 2017, Mixon has spent his entire career with Cincinnati and rushed for career highs of 1,205 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2021.
In 2014, when he was 18, Mixon punched a female Oklahoma student in the face, an attack captured on surveillance video.
He was suspended from the football team for a year and entered an Alford plea, in which a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is sufficient evidence for a conviction. He received a deferred sentence and was ordered to perform community service and undergo counseling.
The incident hurt his standing in the draft, with several teams saying they passed on him because of concerns about his character.
Mahomes gets back to work
Patrick Mahomes strolled through Arrowhead Stadium without any issues with his injured right ankle on Thursday, and the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback expects to practice fully in the next 10 days leading up to the Super Bowl.
Mahomes sprained the ankle during the divisional round against Jacksonville, and he was clearly hobbled in last Sunday night’s AFC championship win over Cincinnati. But despite taking a couple of hard shots during that game, and his mad dash in the closing seconds to set up the winning field goal, Mahomes came out of it feeling just fine.
“It was a physical game. My whole body was a little sore. But I don’t think I had any step backward, a reaggravation of the ankle,” Mahomes said. “A little pain playing with it but other than that, I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
The Chiefs sustained a number of other injuries during their 23-20 win over the Bengals, though. They lost three wide receivers — Mecole Hardman reinjured his pelvis, JuJu Smi.th-Schuster had swelling in his knee and Kadarius Toney sprained his ankle — while cornerback L’Jarius Sneed was in the concussion protocol and Willie Gay Jr. hurt his shoulder.
Gay was the only one that returned to practice on an unseasonably mild February day in Kansas City.
AFC leads early in the Pro Bowl
Las Vegas quarterback Derek Carr scored an event-high 31 points in the precision passing contest of the Pro Bowl skills competitions Thursday night to give the AFC an early 9-3 lead over the NFC.
Carr, in familiar territory with the events being held at Raiders headquarters, said he will not extend the Feb. 15 deadline to help facilitate a trade from Las Vegas. The Raiders must trade or release the quarterback by that date — three days after the Super Bowl — or Carr’s contract will become guaranteed and Las Vegas will have to pay him $40.4 million over the next two years.
But his performance during the two-day competitions boosted the AFC with each event counting as three more points.
The AFC also won the lightning round — a series of competitions that included a water balloon toss — and long drive contest, and the NFC got on the scoreboard by winning the dodgeball tournament.
The NFL changed the Pro Bowl format this year, replacing the traditional all-star game with a flag football contest and series of other skills events.
Four skills events take place Sunday at Allegiant Stadium, and those also will be three points each.
Three flag football games will then be played, the first two each worth six points. The points will then be combined with those accumulated from the skills events, which will be the score entering the third and final flag football game to determine the winner.
Most of Thursday’s events were played at the Raiders’ facility before about 500 fans, cheerleaders from 12 teams and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.