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Tee Higgins
Forgive me for quoting myself, but I will reference the exact sequence I wrote in my Week 6 preview column about this game, because it feels pertinent to tonight’s result for the Bengals offense.
We do all these thought exercises in the offseason about how the Bengals can evolve on offense in the future with Tee Higgins likely exiting in 2025. Then we get into the games and it’s so clear that not only the offense but, frankly, this entire operation, doesn’t have a prayer unless Joe Burrow is out there throwing haymakers to his two stars on the perimeter.
I come out of this Week 6 win — a night where the offense wasn’t even at its best — as confused as ever about how any plan that involves splitting Higgins from Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase makes any sense.
The Giants defense was dedicating extra resources to double-cover Chase. Any team that walks into a game against the Bengals prepares to take Chase out of the game. Few can pull it off and the Bengals have made it more challenging than ever to do it this year.
Chase has moved around to play every receiver position this season and has taken more reps than ever in the slot. He took 11 snaps in the slot in this game, per TruMedia. And still, the Giants did a decent job at it, holding Chase to 72 yards on six targets and limiting an offense that was rolling coming into Week 6.
With Chase drawing that extra defensive attention, Higgins was left in one-on-one situations. Higgins was shadowed by Deonte Banks on 87% of his routes, per Next Gen Stats, and caught all five of his targets for 54 yards against the Giants’ corner. Higgins did most of his damage on short passes as the outlet, chain-moving receiver. Considering the pressure Burrow was under against the Giants’ ferocious defensive line, that was a key factor in the Bengals doing anything at all on offense.
Chase gave a post-game interview to NBC where he essentially said this was exactly what the Bengals expected to see. If…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/week-6-caredont-care-bengals-fans-fantasy-managers-should-hope-tee-higgins-joe-burrow-marriage-stays-intact-035203436.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-10-14 03:52:03
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