After a straight up shellacking at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, Sept. 21, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins has received plenty of criticism for his lack of production through three weeks. Higgins was targeted just twice in the 48-10 loss for his team, catching just one pass for 15 yards.
With Joe Burrow out for at least three months, Jake Browning has taken over at quarterback for the Bengals for the foreseeable future. Browning and Higgins seemingly haven’t gotten on the same page yet, as Higgins was a non-factor in Browning’s first start of the season.
Bengals’ head coach Zac Taylor delivered a vote of confidence in Higgins and the rest of the offense during his midweek press conference on Thursday, Sept. 25.
“[Higgins] and I talk. That’s the thing about our guys, there’s not an ego that’s involved in any of this,” Taylor said. “When it hasn’t gone that way for guys, they really trust where we’ll head. There’s been games before where some of our main guys have been targeted once and they know the next game might be 12 targets. We’ve seen that with almost every single guy on our roster.”
Higgins has caught just seven passes on 14 targets through the first three weeks of the season. He has 104 yards and a touchdown on those seven catches.
Tumultuous Start For Cincinnati
Historically known as slow starters, the Bengals escaped week one with a 17-16 win over the Cleveland Browns before winning 31-27 over the Jaguars in week two, the game where Burrow went down.
In their first full game without Burrow, every single aspect of the Bengals game against Minnesota seemed off. Browning threw two picks and the run game never got off the ground while their defense let the Vikings run amok for 48 points.
“It’s a long season. I think you can say that for a lot of our guys,” Taylor said on Thursday. “The first three games of the season have just been strange. You just continue to evolve as the season goes.”
Despite their inconsistent play, Cincinnati is off to a 2-1 start.
Daunting Schedule Ahead for Bengals
The next three weeks for Cincinnati consist of matchups with the Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, three teams that are projected to be atop the standings come January.
First up is Denver, which has gotten off to a 1-2 start, though their two losses were against the red-hot Colts in walk-off fashion and the 3-0 Chargers in a narrowly contested game.
If the Bengals had that hard of a time facing Carson Wentz, they may be in for a tough day against Bo Nix, who is ready to shake off the rust and prove that he is a top-tier quarterback. J.K. Dobbins has been phenomenal in the run game to start the season and could prove to be a tough matchup for Cincinnati.
Regardless of who they play, the Bengals need Jake Browning to get up to speed quickly, as his performance has left a lot to be desired through his game and a half of play. He has two of the best weapons in the NFL in Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase, so at some point the tide should begin to turn if he can just find them more often.
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