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Bengals Film Breakdown: Tee Higgins Showed He's A Star During Four Game Stretch Without Ja'Marr Chase

Higgins has topped the 100-yard mark in back-to-back weeks.

Mike Santagata

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When star receiver Ja’Marr Chase went down, all eyes moved to Tee Higgins as the guy who needed to step up in his place. 

Higgins was having a fairly good season before that point with 31 catches for 455 yards and two touchdowns, but the Bengals needed more from their third year wide receiver. He had to become the guy in the passing offense. Chase accounted for about 31% of the Bengals passing yardage over the first seven weeks of the season. He was the guy they would go to when they needed a big play. He’s the receiver they went to when they needed to get the offense going. He was the engine of the passing offense despite the amount of respect he got from defensive coordinators across the league. The Bengals could no longer just let Chase do his thing when nothing else was working. So how did Higgins step up in Chase’s absence?

Statistically Speaking

Over the past four games, Higgins caught 26 out of his 36 targets for 371 yards and two touchdowns. Four games is about a quarter of a season, but if you extrapolate those numbers over a 17 game pace, he'd be on pace for 110 catches, 1,577 yards, and eight touchdowns. That pace would be a new single season franchise record for yardage and would only fall two receptions short of the franchise record (112). If you look at last season in the NFL, 110 catches would rank fourth behind Cooper Kupp, Davante Adams, and Tyreek Hill. That's some pretty good company. The 1,577 yards would be the third-highest mark in the NFL behind only Kupp and Justin Jefferson. While the eight touchdowns aren’t quite on that insane trajectory, it would be a career high for Higgins as well. 

Over the past five seasons, a first team All-Pro wide receiver averages about 1,488 yards, so Higgins was above that pace during this stretch. I would certainly call that stepping up.

So his volume during the past four games has been at an All-Pro level, but what about his efficiency? During this stretch Higgins played at a career high level for catch percentage and yards per target. Throwing at him during this stretch has been awesome. Joe Burrow’s passer rating while throwing to Higgins over the past four games has been 112.15. For reference, a 112.15 passer rating would be the second best passer rating in the entire league.

We’ve seen the volume and efficiency, but now let’s check out expected points added (EPA). Higgins added a total of 17.6 expected points over this run. That’s about 0.45 EPA/play on his targets which would be the best passing offense in the NFL this season. Overall all of this is to say that Higgins was an absolute stud over the past 4 games statistically. 

While impressive, statistics don't tell the entire story, so let’s dive into the film and see how he's performing at such a high level.

Higgins Film Review

Higgins is a 6-4, 215 pound receiver with 34-inch arms. This humongous frame has led to some lazy analysis about him where they just consider him a contested catch guy who cannot separate. The truth is that Higgins excels at every aspect of playing wide receiver. Yes, he’s one of the best contested catch guys in the league, but he moves extremely well for his size and can create separation without ever putting his hands on the defensive back.

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This play is the perfect example of how Higgins can win with his route running. It’s a comeback route off of play action and Higgins runs it very well. The first goal of this route is to stress the defender vertically. Higgins pushes about 15 yards vertically before making his break on the route. During that time he's eaten the cushion of the bail cornerback so when Higgins finally does break and turn around, the corner cannot react in time. 

Higgins makes an excellent cut for his size and is wide open for a 15 yard gain. This concept is specifically designed to just isolate Higgins against the cornerback he is against because the Bengals trust that he will win that matchup. It’s not true man coverage with the Panthers in Cover 3, but after about 10 yards, that corner is responsible for Higgins one-on-one. Without ever laying a hand on the corner, Higgins generates about four yards of separation because he sets himself up well and breaks better than expected.

The Steelers are playing press man coverage against Higgins here and he shows off a nuanced understanding of how to get open and some athleticism. He starts with three steps to the outside as if he is going to release that way, which opens up Levi Wallace’s hips to the outside. Once Wallace tries to throw his one hand jam with his inside hand, Higgins uses a swat and swim maneuver to get free and release to the inside. 

Now Wallace is in a bad spot. He lost the ability to jam and disrupt the route and he has to spin his hips all the way around to run with Higgins. Wallace tries to grab onto Higgins's hip to slingshot himself into good positioning but fails to do so. Once Higgins is free and has won to the inside, he works back outside so that he can “stack” the cornerback making it impossible for Wallace to get back in the play. Wallace does not make up the ground necessary to get involved in the catch point and Higgins has an easy 33 yard gain. Burrow leaves this ball slightly too far to the outside because if this was a perfect pass, then Higgins is able to get into the end zone and score. As it stands, it’s a perfect example of Higgins's ability to release and create separation down the field on deep targets.

Now, let’s take a look at Higgins' ability to generate separation underneath. Here he’s playing in the slot as the No. 2 receiver in trips. This is not typically where the Bengals like to place him because he’s such a fantastic outside receiver, but they like the matchup that they are getting and want to use him underneath. Arthur Maulet is in man coverage against him on this play as the Steelers are playing a man free coverage with a 5-man rush. 

Higgins runs a 5-yard hitch route and is actually able to generate about 2-3 yards of separation on the play. Burrow throws it just a tad late, but he throws it away from the cornerback’s leverage which keeps the separation for Higgins. Just a 6 yard gain, but you can see still that he has the ability to generate separation with just his route running.

One of the areas in that Higgins really excels is his intelligence against zone coverage. According to The Edge from 33rd Sports, Higgins is currently the 11th best wide receiver in the league in terms of yards per route run against zone coverage this season (minimum 150 snaps). It shows up every week. 

Watch as Higgins works the sideline hole shot against the Titans Cover 2 here. Higgins rips through the jam to stay on his track and releases to the inside and then breaks right in between the cornerback and the safety. Higgins plays this corner route slightly flat because he can see that the cornerback didn’t sink as much as he could have. This gives Burrow a slightly larger window to throw into. Burrow makes an excellent anticipation throw to Higgins who comes down with the pass for a good gain and a first down.

This intelligence against zone coverage is one reason why Higgins is typically their guy on dig routes. He does a fantastic job of reading out the coverage and knowing when to sit and when to keep running. It’s something that he has gotten better at over his career in the NFL.

Higgins was even able to generate some separation when he faced brackets and true No. 1 receiver coverages. Here the Titans are playing quarters and when there is no threat from anyone else working vertically on his side of the field, the Titans have essentially a bracket on him. The Titans have their top corner in Kristian Fulton, who is responsible for Higgins on the outside. They also have a safety there to take Higgins if he works to the inside. As the X receiver on 3rd-and-long, this is the type of coverage you can expect. The Bengals have a deep out called for Higgins on that side. This should not work on the chalkboard. Fulton will be able to come down and break this up because he knows he has help to the inside. However, Higgins uses his downfield prowess to his advantage. He presses vertically and forces Fulton to open up his hips to run as if this is a go route. At that moment, Higgins sinks and cuts to the outside. By making a 90-degree cut in three steps, he forces Fulton to spin all the way back around. This creates enough separation that Higgins is able to come away with an easy first down against bracket coverage on 3rd-and-long. This is what the best of the best receivers do in these situations and Higgins showed that he is that guy.

As I mentioned earlier, Higgins is still a great contested catch guy. These plays showed that Higgins has the ability to win with just his release and route running savvy, but the guy is 6-4 with go-go gadget arms. He’s going to be able to win in contested catch situations and over the past four weeks, he has had some highlights doing just that.

Against Roger McCreary, Higgins used his humongous size advantage well. They both fight for positioning as the ball is in the air and Higgins wins that battle. He finishes by jumping straight up and down to come down with the ball at its highest point and it’s a touchdown.

This one is a stutter go and Higgins actually wins before the catch point and gets behind the cornerback, but the ball is slightly underthrown. It’s nice to have a receiver with Higgins' size and ability to win at the catch point because it does not matter that it’s underthrown for him. This is once again against the Titans' best corner in Fulton and this is a tough catch. Higgins is able to come down with this despite physical tight coverage at the catch point and then holds on through contact with the ground.

The last big contested catch he had was against the Browns where Burrow just put it up there for him and let him win. A slight push from Higgins as a veteran move, but he does not extend his arms to get called. Then he high points the ball in the air and finishes with a touchdown.

Despite all of the production that Higgins had as the Bengals' No. 1 guy over the past four weeks, it actually should have been more.

There were a multitude of plays where Higgins was winning separation down the field, but for some reason or another he didn’t end up catching the ball. Sometimes it was a holding call where the offense would gain five yards and a first down, but it stopped Higgins from getting 50 yards and a touchdown. Other times it was just the pressure arriving too quickly. Either way, these are the plays you have to overcome and Higgins was able to do that. It’s just astounding that there was still some meat left on the bone when it comes to production for him.

Higgins is one of the best receivers in the NFL. He’s a well-balanced player with the ability to win at the release point, the break point, and the catch point. He moves extremely well for his size and is very tough to cover. Over the four games that Chase missed, he played at an All-Pro level and deserves more respect than he’s received, especially from national media. 

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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