Last season, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins entered Week 17 with 908 receiving yards, and he was one good game in the season finale away from a 1,000 yard season as a rookie.
Higgins had already done the hard part on the trek to 1,000 yards in 2020. He had already broken into the starting lineup, overcame a slow start and developed into one of the breakout young receivers in the NFL. With a personal milestone on the line one year ago, Higgins injured his hamstring on his only target of that game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Higgins’ 2020 season had an abrupt conclusion, and the way it ended set up a 2021 season that has exceeded expectations.
Entering Week 17 this season, Higgins ranks 15th in the NFL with 1,029 receiving yards. He has been one of the best contested catch receivers in the NFL, which he demonstrated last week against the Ravens with a 52-yard catch over a double team.
Higgins learned from his rookie season, and now he’s playing like a No. 1 receiver.
“Once the play is called, it’s my job to get open,” Higgins said. “It’s Joe (Burrow’s) job to get it to one of us, and whoever the ball goes to, it’s our job to catch it. That’s what I do for a living.”
Higgins entered the 2021 season with the goal to “just to be stronger from the legs up.” He entered the 2021 season a few pounds lighter than he weighed as a rookie, and with more explosiveness and more agility.
‘It’s far and away the biggest game of the year’: Bengals prep for big test against Chiefs
He wrote “1K” on his mirror to remind himself that he just missed out on one of his goals from the 2020 season.
“I thought Tee finished last season really strong, so this year he knew what was in store,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “He knew what the grind felt like, and he really attacked this offseason on his own before he even got with us. He had a tremendous training camp, and I thought he was really coming on.”
But Higgins’ standout offseason didn’t lead to immediate results. When teams were still defending rookie wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in single coverage, Higgins was usually quarterback Joe Burrow’s second or third read.
During the first six weeks of the season, Higgins battled a shoulder injury and only averaged 48.5 receiving yards per game. He also made a few key mistakes.
Against the Chicago Bears in Week 2, Higgins allowed Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson to get to the sideline before he did and Johnson intercepted a pass. Against the Green Bay Packers in Week 5, Higgins dropped two passes in important moments for the offense.
“The first half I was battling injuries, and I was playing nervous with the injuries,” Higgins said. “I’m not trying to get hurt again. And I just told myself, I needed to get into the game. (Since then), it’s been pretty good.”
Everything changed in Week 7, when Higgins became the focal point of the Bengals game plan against the Baltimore Ravens. He earned 15 targets and caught seven passes for 62 yards. One week later, Higgins made one of the best catches of the NFL season.
Facing the New York Jets, Higgins made a diving catch with one arm at the goal line. Despite defensive holding on the play, Higgins timed his jump and locked the ball between his forearm and his bicep. Since then, Higgins has made a leaping touchdown catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers, an acrobatic touchdown catch in double coverage against the Los Angeles Chargers and the 52-yard pickup against the Ravens.
“The game reps are really where you see those things start to blossom,” Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said. “You’re definitely seeing that with Joe and Tee, the way that they’re going about throwing and catching with each other. It’s hard to substitute game reps, and they’ve gotten a lot of them now over the last handful of weeks. Joe really trusts Tee to be in the right spots and come up with the ball.”
Even when Higgins hasn’t been the focal point, he has impressed the coaching staff with his style of play when Burrow doesn’t throw him the ball. Against the Las Vegas Raiders, Higgins only had two catches for 15 yards. But Higgins still made the play of the game, a shoestring tackle inside the 20-yard line when the Raiders returned a fumble.
In that game, Higgins also set up multiple runs for Joe Mixon with the way Higgins blocked the Raiders safeties. Even though Higgins lost weight entering the season, he kept the ability to block a defender into the turf against the run. Taylor has called Higgins one of the smartest players on the Bengals offense, and Higgins was a big piece in that game’s run-first scheme.
Higgins’ effort when he hasn’t been in the spotlight set up his best play of the season on Sunday against the Ravens.
On a play designed for wide receiver Tyler Boyd near the end of the first half, Higgins’ responsibility was to run a go route down the left sideline and occupy coverage from two defenders. Because Higgins sprinted on his decoy route down the field, Burrow took a chance and threw Higgins the ball.
“Tee is making (those catches) at a rate as good as anybody in the league,” Callahan said. “He's a big, strong, physical receiver. He's got a great knack for coming down with those now. And really, last year, he didn't come down with a lot of those. It's a testament to the work he's put in over the course of the last year.”
Bengals news and analysis: What we learned about Cincinnati after sweeping the Ravens
On that play, Higgins boxed out two Ravens defensive backs, caught the pass at its high point and held onto the ball as he hit the ground. It was the type of play Higgins likely wouldn’t have been able to make early last season, and it was the type of play that wouldn’t have worked without the mindset that Higgins has developed.
“This is not a surprise for us who have watched him everyday and watched his approach, his attention to detail and his professionalism and his desire to be great,” Taylor said. “We’ve got a bunch of guys in the receiver room who are like that right now.”
Source link
