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Double Jeopar-Tee: Cincinnati Bengals' Higgins-Chase Combo Thriving More Than Ever

Jay Morrison

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) and Tee Higgins (5) celebrate the Chase touchdown in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 5 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. The Bengals fell to 1-4 on the season with a 41-38 loss to the Ravens.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase (1) and Tee Higgins (5) celebrate the Chase touchdown in the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 5 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. The Bengals fell to 1-4 on the season with a 41-38 loss to the Ravens. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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CINCINNATI – In the last five games that Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have started and finished, the Cincinnati Bengals are averaging 32 points and 410 yards.

That list includes the three more recent games this year, as well as the victories against the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers last season.

In those five games, the production from Higgins and Chase has been elite.

Chase: 34 catches, 537 yards, 5 touchdowns

Higgins: 31 catches, 361 yards, 2 touchdowns

How much has Higgins’ return helped Chase?

In Chase’s last five games when Higgins hasn’t played, he has 20 catches for 209 yards and one touchdown.

“Tee is a tremendous part of what we're doing right now,” Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “The balance is simply a result of the defense having to pick their poison. And if they're gonna devote the type of resources that most defenses are gonna look at and say they need to devote to try to limit Ja'Marr, that is just very naturally going to lead to some more opportunities for Tee.

“You can choose to devote those kinds of resources to both those guys, and then that opens up a whole world of everything else to everybody else,” Pitcher continued. “That's the dilemma they're in.”

Higgins missed the first two games of the season with a right hamstring injury, and he missed the 2023 finale with a left hamstring injury.

He almost missed three consecutive starts against the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers last November due to the left hamstring injury.

Sunday's 41-38 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens marked the first time since the duo became teammates in 2021 that they have combined for four touchdowns.

Their 19 catches tied a career high initially set in the win against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 16, 2021, when Burrow set the franchise passing record with 525 yards.

And the 276 combined yards are the receiving duo’s third highest total (328 against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 17, 2021, and 319 in that same Baltimore game).

“Tee's making play after play,” Pitcher said. “Obviously the two touchdowns, but he's playing strong football. Strong football. Strong at the catch point. Playing through contact. And it's been huge for us to have him back.

“He got held, he got (defensive pass interference), he got every penalty in the book,” Pitcher continued. “And he ripped through the contact, he made a strong catch, he held the ball away from the defender – a couple kind of abrupt stopping routes on the outside. He started the drive at the end of the first half with a play just like that, where Joe's able to throw the ball high and away where only Tee can get it, and you know Tee's gonna secure the catch, even with a defender in close proximity.”

That drive started with the Bengals at their own 21 and just 34 seconds left in the half. Higgins’ 11-yard catch moved the chains and shifted the focus from just trying to get into field goal range to possibly getting close enough to take a shot, which is what Burrow did a few plays later, hitting Chase for a 41-yard touchdown with just nine seconds remaining before halftime.

“Any successful two-minute drive, we always talk about 'get the first completion, get the first first down,’” Pitcher said. “When you enter the huddle as the quarterback and when you think about it as the play caller, it really comes down to that. Because after that, you kick into auto pilot. And whether you're on the ball or you get a chance to go back to the huddle with a timeout or an incompletion or whatever it may be, none of it happens without a positive flow to begin the drive.”

Higgins has 18 catches for 182 yards and two touchdowns through three games. At his current pace, he would finish with 84 receptions for 849 yards and nine touchdowns.

On both of Higgins' touchdown passes against the Ravens, Burrow threw the ball behind him to create more space away from underneath defenders.

Higgins ability to make those sort of plays is one of his underrated skills.

"Tee's body control is elite," Burrow said. "I'm confident I can throw to Tee in any window, whether it's late, early, if I throw it behind him, in front of him, because his body control is so elite and his arms are so long and his hands are so good. He's going to make the throw right.


"That gives me confidence throwing to him over the middle in a lot of different ways, in a lot of different windows, on a lot of different plays, because he just consistently makes those tough catches," Burrow added.

Higgins' first touchdown reception Sunday was a perfect example

"Tee can be running full speed on an in-breaking route and turn his hips and adjust and catch a ball behind him," Pitcher said. "So, that’s a huge asset for a receiver like that. There are certain routes guys know and come to expect based on the timing and where the defense is there is a likelihood I am going to have to reach behind my body to catch this."

But Higgins' value to the offense also goes beyond what happens when he’s not targeted.

"His productivity is not always statistics,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “Just him being out there, him being on the same side as Ja'Marr, him being opposite Ja'Marr, you really can't leave him one-on-one.

“And so it certainly creates decisions (that) people got to make,” Taylor continued. “He's a top receiver in this league. And so, when you've got two of those guys, it's a great strength of ours."

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Jay Morrison
JAY MORRISON

Jay Morrison covers the Cincinnati Bengals for Bengals On SI. He has been writing about the NFL for nearly three decades. Combining a passion for stats and storytelling, Jay takes readers beyond the field for a unique look at the game and the people who play it. Prior to joining Bengals on SI, Jay covered the Cincinnati Bengals beat for The Athletic, the Dayton Daily News and Pro Football Network.