Joe Mixon, Bengals Explain How Coin Flip Rule Turned Into Memorable Touchdown Celebration

Cincinnati finished the regular season with a 12-4 record.

Author:
Elise Jesse
Publish date:
Jan 9, 2023 10:49 AM EST

In this story:

After an emotional week, Cincinnati played Baltimore in their first game back following their Week 17 cancelation with the Bills after safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in the first quarter.

“It was a long, tough week for us,” running back Joe Mixon said. “I thought we did a helluva job coming together as brothers and having those conversations and really leaning on each other through hard times. I thought Zac (Taylor) did a helluva job getting us in here and having our cry be directed towards our work and that was probably the best thing. That was probably the best thing, us coming together and getting out emotions out and then refocusing.”

The Bengals will host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night at 8:15 p.m. in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.

“We’ve just got to lock in these next few weeks and get ready for what’s to come,” Mixon said.

The Bengals managed to avoid a potential coin flip that would decide where their first playoff game would take place. Though Cincinnati technically won the AFC North after finding out that the Bill-Bengals game was ultimately canceled, the team held off on celebrating the division crown until they beat the Ravens in the regular season finale.

As Tyler Boyd and Mike Hilton walked from the game field to the locker room, Boyd shouted, “They ain’t give it to us, we took it!”

When a security member opened the doors to Cincinnati’s locker room a few minutes later, a cloud of smoke filled the air. The smell of celebratory cigars and sweat filled the air as Joe Burrow handed cigars out like candy to his teammates with one already lit in his mouth.

“It felt good getting a cigar from Joey B man,” Tee Higgins said. “He’s one of those guys that’s a leader and we came in as rookies and he told me we came to win, to win championships.”

“It was great feeling,” Ted Karras said with a smile. “Joey B is the heart and soul of this team, he’s our unquestioned leader and damn talented.”

It is well documented that the new coin flip rule which was voted on late last week was not well received by the Cincinnati Bengals organization. The team had to start all of their top players to ensure a a win against Baltimore because a loss could have put their playoff future up to a coin flip.

“It’s BS. There’s already a rule in the rule book so I don’t know why you have to go to another rule,” DJ Reader said. “I ain’t trippin about it too much because we play them next week at home and don’t have to worry about the coin flip.”

With Baltimore already in the playoffs, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh decided to rest a banged up second string quarterback Tyler Huntley, Kevin Zeitler, Mark Andrews, J.K. Dobbins, Marcus Peters, and Brandon Stephens.

It sounds like the Bengals would've rested guys if Week 18 wasn't a must-win game.

“Fo sho, fo sho. We definitely would have gotten rest," Mixon said. "I mean its irrelevant at this point we played a whole game and we’ve got to come back next week and get ready to go to work again on Monday and just got to get ready for them again.”

On Saturday, Chad Ochocinco tweeted out, “Dear Bengals players, if you love me the way I love you guys when you score tomorrow someone has to flip a coin as their celebration & call it tails,"

“Once we seen Chad posted on twitter, I went up to Joe (Mixon) and I said ‘we gotta do this’ and he said, ‘bro, ill bring the coin and whoever scored first I’ll get the coin out, get it to you and you flip it,” Higgins said. “He just happened to be the one that scored first.”

Under a sign that read, “Please Disrespect Us.” in the stands at Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati’s players used one of their touchdown celebrations to express their distaste for the coin flip scenario introduced to the owners this week.

With just over one minute left in the first quarter, Mixon rushed in for a one-yard touchdown and immediately started taking his gloves off in the end zone before grabbing a coin out and flipping it before kicking it.

“Me and Joe said if it lands on tails we are going to give it a kick and it landed on tails and we kicked the hell out of it,” Higgins explained.

Mixon described his favorite part of the celebration as he did a flipping motion.

“The best thing about that celebration was the actual flip. That thing was just in the air like and then it landed like humph. I didn’t even see what it landed on I just kicked it.”

Following the celebration, Ochocinco tweeted out, “Holy sh--, they did the coin toss celebration for real”.

“I was just wondering like, man where the hell am I going to hide a coin,” Mixon said. “I was thinking in my shoe but then I thought ‘Nah, that’s going to be too low’.

A teammate told Mixon to stick it in the side of his glove. The coin wasn’t a lucky one by any means. Mixon said he grabbed the first quarter he saw.

“I get quarters when I go to McDonald’s or something, shout out to Ochocinco,” Mixon laughed. “That’s where you’d get it either there or Chick-fil-A.”

Shortly after the conclusion of the game Chad Ochocinco took to Twitter once again to let everyone know he was willing to pay Mixon's fine.

“Somebody told me Chad tweeted and they said he’d pay for the fine so I’m going to holla at Ocho after this for sure,” Mixon said with a laugh.

Yes, Mixon used a prop, but he didn’t remove his helmet, make an offensive gesture or delay the game.

“If they didn’t call a penalty how could they fine him? I don’t know," Ted Karras said.

Watch the NFL playoffs on fuboTV—start your free trial here.

For more on the Bengals, watch the video below and subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Get Your Bengals Tickets From SI Tickets HERE.

Make sure you bookmark All Bengals for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

You May Also Like:

Tyler Boyd Calls Out Bart Scott, Hamlin Family Wants Tee Higgins Criticism To Stop

Former Bengals Quarterback Andy Dalton, NFL Stars Donate To Damar Hamlin's Charity

Aaron Rodgers: 'Zac Taylor Deserves A Lot Of Credit' In Damar Hamlin Situation

Tee Higgins Tweets Support For Damar Hamlin; ESPN's Bart Scott Criticizes Higgins For Hit On Safety