Archdeacon: ‘Man, that was dope’ — Bengals troll NFL with coin-flip celebration

McPherson made two field goals in the Bengals’ 27-16 victory over the Baltimore Ravens in the regular season finale at Paycor Stadium, but it was Mixon’s foot that stole the show with a first-quarter boot Sunday.

In a perfect troll of the NFL — which in the words of fellow receiver Tyler Boyd “was trying to play us, so we gave ‘em what they wanted,” — Mixon celebrated his 1-yard touchdown run with 1:11 left in the first quarter with a coin toss celebration that showed what the team thought of the league’s slap-dash solution to pick a playoff site for next Sunday’s wild card game against these same Ravens,

After he scored, Mixon was joined by several of his offensive mates in the end zone and pulled off a choreographed skit that his teammates and Bengals fans everywhere loved, but the no-fun-league NFL likely hated and probably will issue a fine to prove it.

Mixon pulled out a quarter he had taped to the inside of his glove, flipped it with exaggeration into the air, watched its arc up and then down into the field turf — and with his teammates acting like back-up singers and going through the same pantomimed antics behind him — then gave the coin a big kick out of the end zone and, better yet, any playoff possibility.

“Man, that was dope,” Boyd said afterward.

“We were all supposed to have a quarter out there, but it kind of slipped our minds because we were caught up in getting out there fast and winning.

“But Mixon’s the man with the plan. He keeps the train rollin’ and he was the one fortunate enough to have a quarter. But we all wished we had one.”

Mixon admitted later he got the idea from a tweet he read by former Bengals prankster, Chad Johnson, the standout wide receiver whose inventive touchdown celebrations when he was with the team often drew the wrath of the NFL.

And Mixon said when he took the field Sunday, he too forgot his coin.

He claimed he bought the one he had from a team trainer for $100.

Although you’d think the prop would be offered free, it was money well spent.

It made the point better than the more measured approaches taken the last few days by Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn and head coach Zac Taylor.

On Friday, the NFL approved a resolution that called for a coin flip to decide the potential site of a Cincinnati-Baltimore wild card game if certain factors came into play.

Had the Ravens won Sunday and the two teams were matched for the playoffs, a coin toss would have decided where the game was played.

While the Bengals would have still had the better record and winning percentage, they would have played one less game than Baltimore and would had lost to them twice.

The cancellation of last Monday’s Bengals-Buffalo Bills game — after the catastrophic injury to Buffalo safety Damar Hamln — made playoff plans difficult, but the coin-toss scenario didn’t adhere to league rules for a cancelled game, the Bengals said.

Blackborn wrote a letter to all the other NFL teams urging them to vote against the proposal and Taylor used his Friday’s press conference to voice his displeasure.

Mixon even went on Twitter and posted a portion of the rule that pertained to his team’s situation.

But the running back made the best debate point with the TD run that put the team up 10-0 and then his kick routine in the end zone.

The Bengals victory erased the coin-flip possibility and the game will be played at Paycor Stadium at 8:15 p.m. Sunday.

If Mixon is fined, Johnson tweeted out he’ll pay the penalty, just as he did so many times in his NFL career.

As for that much-watched coin toss, Mixon was asked how it had landed.

Did it come up heads or tails?

“I didn’t even see how it landed,” Mixon said with a grin. “I just kicked it.”