As if to underscore the Bengals’ Abominable Snowman Offense, wide receiver Tee Higgins had on a winter hat complete with ear flaps when he met the media after Friday’s practice.
Higgins has been cleared to play Sunday (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s FOX 19) in Buffalo after missing the Thanksgiving night win in Baltimore with a concussion. The Buffalo News forecast for Sunday calls for a high of 31 degrees, a wind of 11 miles per hour, and snow showers, which fits in nicely with Higgins and his band of Ice Station Bengals.
Quarterback Joe Burrow, in games played in and after December including the postseason, has the highest completion percentage (71.1), most yards per game (296) and the best passer rating (105.4) across the 55 years of the merger, according to Next Gen Stats.
Since 1970, Joe Lee Burrow and Santa have been December locks.
And Higgins (remember, he could have been the Super Bowl MVP) has eight of his 100-yarders in 17 such games. Five of his top seven career games have been in December. For a guy who grew up in Tennessee and stayed south to play at Clemson, no problem for Higgins and his game seven-Bill-Russell-rebound catches.
“I just try to put my best foot forward. Get a win. That’s what I do each and every week,” Higgins said. “It just so happens to be that way. Hopefully, keep it going. Just do my best to help the team get a win, whether I get 100 or 30 yards.”
The numbers say he should do closer to 100. The Burrow Bengals have won all three of their sub-freezing games. Higgins had 128 yards on eight catches in the 21 degrees of Foxboro in the 2022 Christmas Eve win over the Patriots and had 148 yards on nine catches a few weeks before that during a 27-degree win in Pittsburgh.
Last year in Pittsburgh amid 19 degrees, Burrow hit an astounding 37 of 46 passes for 277 yards in the 19-17 win. In those three freezing games, he has fired eight touchdowns and five interceptions for a passer rating of 98.6 and a completion percentage of 73.7.
Higgins watched Burrow come back from his 74-day absence in style last week and can’t wait to re-join Burrow for the first game in three months with Burrow, Higgins and running mate Ja’Marr Chase.
“I watched the game, and it looks like fun,” Higgins said. “It looked like everything was clicking, playing complementary football. The defense was getting turnovers, the offense was scoring off those.”
He especially enjoyed the guys feasting on the NBC turkey after it was over, particularly defensive end Joseph Ossai struggling to eat while being interviewed.
“The interviews after. Ossai had me laughing so hard,” Higgins said. “A lot of joy. Just seeing it was great.”