Cincinnati Bengals: Tee Higgins Returns After 3 Week Absence
The Cincinnati Bengals got some good news today about one of their receivers ahead of Sunday night’s game against the LA Chargers. Tee Higgins makes his return after sitting out the previous three weeks with a quad injury.
The Bengals must fight for every win for the rest of the regular season at 3 of 4 in the AFC North with a 4-6 record. Although they have won 3 of their last five games, only the first two of those three have been by single digits, which is not very impressive overall. Could Joe Burrow’s interesting hair choice still be holding Higgins and the rest of his team back? Probably not, but it could be some sort of conspiracy against the Bengals.
Anyway, it’s not like Cincinnati has had struggles at the WR slot all season. WR1 Jamarr Chase had another stellar season, including a 3-touchdown performance in a very close and somewhat controversial loss to the AFC North-leading Ravens just last Thursday. Now, the focus is on the 6-3 Los Angeles Chargers, which might prove to be more than Higgins and co. can chew. For his own part, it’ll be his first action since leaving the Bengals’ Week 7 win over rival Cleveland, and yet that was just by one score when it could’ve been much more than that. Higgins has only logged five whole games this season due to that quad injury, with 29 receptions for 341 yards.
With just three touchdowns on the season as well, Higgins has yet to replicate his numbers from last season: 12 games, 42 receptions for 656 yards, and five receiving touchdowns, which was good enough for 3rd on the team, just behind Tyler Boyd and of course, the unbelievably talented Jamarr Chase, who ended up with more than 1200 receiving yards on the season with 100 receptions for seven touchdowns, way more than the rest of of the team. Now, this season, Higgins finds himself 3rd on the team again, but behind the likes of not only Chase but also TE Mike Gesicki, which in most scenarios shouldn’t happen to a talented WR like the 25-year-old Clemson 2nd rounder.
It’ll be a tough opponent for the Bengals, facing a top-ranked Chargers defense that allows just 13 points a game while allowing the 6th fewest total yards per game (302). At least on the offensive side of the ball, the Chargers don’t have as much juice, ranking 22nd in offensive yards per game (314), 19th in points per game (21), and those two ranks verbatim in rushing yards per game (118) and passing yards per game (196). The Bengals, meanwhile, total the 12th most yards/game (344) and knock in the equivalent of 4 touchdowns in every game, ranking them 6th in the league.
Cincinnati also has the 4th most passing yards/game but is near dead last in the league on the rushing side, 29th with just 90 yards on the ground/game. The Bengals’ AFC record also needs work, sitting at 2-4, while the Chargers have a decent 4-2 record against their AFC brethren. Against opponents from the NFC, both teams are about at .500 with 2-2 records, while the Bengals have another advantage in the strength of schedule, their opponents possessing a combined 49-47 record, just over .500, while the Chargers’ opponents have fared worse at 39-46, a .459 combined win percentage.
LA has a current 3-game win streak and has won 4 of their last five games, with nearly all of those by double digits. When it comes to facing the Bengals, they’ve won 4 of the last five contests, with 2 of those five games coming while the franchise was still located in San Diego. It’ll also be the teams’ first meeting since Week 13 of the 2021 season, a dominant 41-22 win in Cincinnati behind Justin Herbert’s 317 yards and three touchdowns. Higgins was actually a decent factor in that game, too, picking up 138 receiving yards on nine catches while finding the end zone once.
This is an intraconference but interdivisional matchup, meaning these two teams don’t play all that often. What it will be, however, is a close game. Most online predictions see this coming down to 1 score or even one possession. It’s also basically a must-win game for the Bengals as if they were to lose, and depending on other AFC results this Sunday, they could see their playoff chances be eliminated. LA has no such quarrels, however, as they look to move to 7-3 on the season thanks to their tough-as-nails defense. This is actually coach Jim Harbaugh’s 2nd stint with the Chargers, having previously coached them from 2004 to 2006 while the team was located in San Diego.
Related: Odds and Predictions For This Week’s “Sunday Night Football”