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Tee Higgins' Week 17 game-winning touchdown was more impressive than it originally looked. The final play of the Cincinnati Bengals' 30-24 overtime win over the Denver Broncos might not have even been in the team's playbook.
The team admitted after the game that they organized the play in the middle of the game, per Ian Rapoport. The NFL insider claims he heard that Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher drew it up in the third quarter with the offense after they ran out of red zone plays.
“From my understanding, this actually was not in the Bengals' playbook,” Rapoport said. “They ran out of low red-zone plays. So in the third quarter, right after the field goal, Dan Pitcher, Joe Burrow and the receivers got together and drew up this play.”
Of the Bengals' 11 drives in the game, seven of them ended in the red zone. Four of their red zone trips resulted in a touchdown — including the game-winning drive — while two ended in field goal attempts and one climaxed with a turnover on downs.
Higgins ended the game with 11 catches for 131 yards and three touchdowns. Both his reception and touchdown total were season-highs. It was just his second game of the year topping 100 yards.
The win kept the Bengals' slim playoff chances alive with one game left in the regular season. Cincinnati will need a lot of help to make the postseason, but despite a horrid 1-4 start to the year, they are still in the hunt.
Bengals' Tee Higgins' future remains uncertain
While the Bengals would certainly hope to keep Higgins, the reality is that his game-winning touchdown could be his final play in a Cincinnati uniform. The fifth-year wideout is currently playing on a franchise tag and is set to be one of the biggest free agents of the upcoming offseason.
Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase have both campaigned for the team to re-sign Higgins but he remains uncertain on his future. The two sides were unable to reach an agreement during the 2024 offseason, leading to Higgins' preseason holdout.
Amid the chaos of his contract dispute, Higgins has taken a slight step back in 2024. He is up to just 858 receiving yards through Week 17 and is on track to miss the 1,000-yard mark for the second straight year. His 12.4 yards per catch are a career-low. However, he has already notched a career-high 10 scores on the season, his first double-digit touchdown campaign.
