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That’s not what Cincinnati expected when it took a public relations hit and drafted Mixon in the second round last year.

But it wasn’t only Mixon who came up short. Giovani Bernard had a pair of 25-yard runs as his best efforts. The Bengals’ running game finished last in the league with those 25-yard runs as their longest from scrimmage.

The Bengals’ running game was one of the worst in their history. In four games, the running backs failed to produce a run of at least 10 yards. Andy Dalton had a 25-yard scramble in one game that matched the biggest gain on the ground all season.

”I’m glad it’s a new year,” Mixon said. ”We definitely are going to make that up, for sure. I can tell you that now.”

Mixon is going to be leading the way.

The Bengals were so enamored of his ability to catch passes as well as break long runs that they took him in the second round of the draft, knowing they’d get a public backlash . He was suspended for his freshman season at Oklahoma for punching a woman in the face.

He made little impact as a rookie, sharing time with Jeremy Hill. His only noteworthy game was a 114-yard effort over winless Cleveland on Nov. 26. He had 96 yards in the final game against Baltimore.

Unhappy with the results, Mixon changed his diet in the offseason and lost 12 pounds, getting back to his playing weight at Oklahoma. He’s looked good in training camp at 216 pounds, with coach Marvin Lewis singling him out for praise on Wednesday.

”I’ve been excited about Joe Mixon and what he’s doing Eddie Jackson Jersey ,” Lewis said.

Hill left as a free agent after the season, leaving Mixon and Bernard to share the bulk of the plays at running back. Coordinator Bill Lazor has redesigned the playbook to fit their ability to catch passes as well as run the ball.

”He knows we both can do anything,” Bernard said. ”It’s not the situation of a first-down back or a second-down back or third-down, it’s none of that. It’s just plug-and-play.”

The biggest problem with the running game last season was the offensive line, which provided little room to run. The Bengals made it their overriding priority in the offseason, trading with Buffalo for left tackle Cordy Glenn and drafting Ohio State center Billy Price in the first round.

”There’s been a lot of urgency within the offensive line to get things moving, and it shows,” Bernard said.

GIO’S DONATION: Bernard helped his future mother-in-law donate a van to an injured Marine veteran on Tuesday, the team’s day off. Bernard drove the van – owned by his future mother-in-law – during his rookie season.

”It was obviously hard to see it go, but it was fun to see it go to a family that needs it David Njoku Jersey ,” Bernard said.

CLEARED TO PRACTICE: Linebacker Brandon Bell passed a physical on Wednesday and was cleared to practice. He was limited for the first five days of camp.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Tyler Boyd reached over cornerback Darqueze Dennard for a catch in the corner of the end one during a goal-line drill, drawing cheers from teammates. He also made a slick over-the-middle catch during an 11-on-11 drill. Boyd was slowed by a knee injury last season and finished with only 22 catches in 10 games.

NO TELLING: Lewis declined to say whether Tyler Eifert would play in any preseason games. The tight end is coming off his second back procedure and was cleared to practice on Monday.

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Mikaela Shiffrin added a second crystal globe in as many days to her ever growing collection on Saturday.

A day after locking up her second straight World Cup overall championship, the American secured her fifth season title in the slalom.

Shiffrin formally won the discipline title as soon as the only remaining challenger, Petra Vlhova, failed to get the top-two result which the Slovakian skier needed in the penultimate event of the season.

However, Shiffrin wrapped up the title in style by winning the race, edging Wendy Holdener of Switzerland by 0.09 seconds. Olympic champion Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was 0.72 behind in third, and Vlhova finished fourth.

”I was happy yesterday but I was still thinking how I could prepare best for the race today and what I needed to do to come out and be motivated and ski really fast again,” said Shiffrin, who finished third in Friday’s giant slalom on the same hill to secure the overall title before skipping the public bib draw in the evening.

”It’s a big challenge to do that at the end of the season but Wendy really wants to win Matthew Stafford Jersey , Frida is coming off her gold medal in slalom in South Korea, so everybody has her own motivation,” Shiffrin said.

Saturday’s result stretched the American’s lead over Vlhova in the slalom standings to 225 points with just the season-ending race at the World Cup finals in Sweden remaining.

It was the American’s fifth slalom title in the past six seasons after only failing to win the discipline in 2016 when she missed five races due to a knee injury. Only Swiss great Vreni Schneider won more slalom titles in her career – six.

Shiffrin, who turns 23 on Tuesday, set a World Cup record on Saturday as she became the first 22-year-old skier, male or female, with 42 World Cup wins.

Also, getting her 11th win of the season was a personal best, though Schneider (14 in 1988-89) and American teammate Lindsey Vonn (12 in 2011-12) won more races in a single season.

Shiffrin was planning to take a few days off before flying to Are and compete in the last GS and slalom races of the season, with nothing more at stake than just the race win.

”It’s still my goal to finish the season as strong as I can Lamarcus Joyner Jersey ,” Shiffrin said, adding she would ”try to have some fire” for the final races of the season.

On a course set by her coach Mike Day, Shiffrin was the fastest in the opening run of Saturday’s slalom, leading Austrians Katharina Gallhuber and Bernadette Schild by 0.30 and 0.39 seconds, respectively.

While the Austrians dropped to fifth and sixth in the final run, Holdener put pressure on Shiffrin by posting the fastest time.

The American lost fractions of her lead at every split time but the margin was still 0.09 to her advantage when she crossed the finish, denying Holdener a maiden slalom victory once more.

The Swiss skier has racked up 16 podiums in the discipline but is yet to win a race – a record in the women’s World Cup.

Both hampered by recent knee injuries, Austria’s Michaela Kirchgasser and Slovakia’s Veronika Velez Zuzulova retired from the sport on Saturday. Wearing clothes inspired by folklore, they used the opening leg for a farewell run at a leisurely pace while hugging coaches along the way.