Amarius Mims keeps meeting the moment.
After turning in a clean Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Cincinnati Bengals right tackle raised the bar in Week 2 and did it against a Houston Texans front that was supposed to be a major problem. The Texans brought Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. to the table, and Mims handled both without giving up a single pressure.
That made Sunday in Houston feel like more than just another good outing. It was the kind of game that puts a young lineman on the map.
“It’s obvious why I had this game circled. It's $100 million at defensive end out there, man.
And it just meant a lot to me, man," Mims said after the Bengals' Week 2 victory over the Texans. "I knew this right here is a very important game to me.
All of them are too, but this one especially, I knew I was coming into a hostile environment. I know they challenge us, but like I said, we got the job done.
So that's all that matters.”
The performance mattered because of the matchup. Mims entered the season with the kind of upside that can make him one of the league’s best offensive linemen, but he still had to put the full picture together. Two weeks in, he’s off to a strong start, and he’s doing it against real edge talent.
That’s what makes this stretch so encouraging for Cincinnati. Mims didn’t just survive the challenge in Houston - he controlled it.
The road gets no easier in Week 3. The Bengals head to Pittsburgh, where TJ Watt is waiting with 3.5 sacks through two weeks and looks like he’s back in top form. He’s expected to line up against Mims for much of the game, which gives the Bengals’ tackle another major test right away.
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