Steelers 4 Downs: Tee Higgins the key to unlocking potential for Joe Burrow-led Bengals offense

1. To a Tee

Joe Burrow is regarded as a premier quarterback, and Ja’Marr Chase is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. But is it Tee Higgins who holds the key to the Cincinnati Bengals offense?

The Bengals’ No. 2 WR, Higgins has played six of Cincinnati’s 11 games heading into Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Cincinnati. It is during the games Higgins has been available that Burrow has been at his best.

According to Sharp Football Analysis, Burrow’s rate of touchdown passes per attempt is 5.6% without Higgins but 7.8% with Higgins on the field. Burrow’s yards per attempt also climb considerably without (6.4) and with (8.5) Higgins available. To illustrate how stark that difference is, based on the season’s passing leaders, Burrow would rank tied for third in yards per attempt if only Higgins’ games counted, and Burrow would be tied for 27th in the category if Higgins never played.

Burrow’s passer rating when targeting Higgins this season is 118.8. Among all receivers with at least 50 targets this season, that ranks ninth.

2. Driving questions

In what is owed to strong play on defense and special teams, the Steelers’ offense has enjoyed solid starting field position this season. The average Steelers drive begins at the 31.6-yard line, the fourth-best field position in the NFL. On a drive-by-drive basis, the Steelers have had a built-in advantage of almost 3 yards. Opponents, on average, have begun drives at the 28.8-yard line.

Once opponents get the ball, they don’t hold on to it too long. The 2-minute, 29-second average possession time against the Steelers’ defense is tied for the second lowest in the league. The 27.9 yards the Steelers defense gives up per possession is the fifth fewest. Against the Steelers defense, opponents average 1.57 points per drive (fifth fewest), score on 30% of their possessions (third fewest) and have 17.5% of their drives end with a turnover (third most).

3. Running early

On first and second downs this season, the Steelers have called a running play 52% of the time, according to data compiled by Open Source Football. Their tendency to run after snapping under center (36%) is higher than all but seven other teams.

The problem? The Steelers are averaging only 4.8 yards per play on early downs, the second-lowest production in the NFL. That has resulted in 52.5% of their sets of downs this season reaching third down. That happened more often for only two other teams.

The Steelers have run 60.35% of the time on first-and-10 this season, including 64.25% while inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. Last season on first-and-10s, the Steelers ran 55.53% of the time.

4. Seeing red

The Dallas Cowboys’ 2-for-2 effort in the red zone during their Thanksgiving Day victory moved them ahead of the Steelers, who dropped to second-to-last in the NFL in red-zone TD rate (44.7%, just a tad better than the New York Giants).

But perhaps the Bengals are the best tonic. Cincinnati opponents’ 70.6% red-zone TD rate is, likewise, second worst in the league.

Incidentally, in the other matchup Sunday, the Bengals offense has the NFL’s third-best red-zone TD rate at 69.7%. Defensively, the Steelers rank 11th at 51.5%.