Tee Higgins Wins His First AFC Offensive Player of the Week Award After 155-Yard Day Against the Titans

In his seventh NFL season, Tee Higgins finally has a weekly award of his own. The Cincinnati Bengals receiver was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after catching 10 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday's 43-36 overtime win over the Tennessee Titans. It is the first Player of the Week honor of his career.

The award has been a long time coming for a player who has spent his career sharing the spotlight. Quarterback Joe Burrow now has nine Player of the Week awards and receiver Ja'Marr Chase has five, per NFL.com. Higgins, a 2025 Pro Bowler, had never won one until now.

How Higgins Got There

Higgins led every player in the league with 155 receiving yards in Week 8, and his 10 catches tied for third most, according to Bengals.com. Nine of those 10 receptions went for at least 10 yards, and his yardage total was the third highest of his career.

He saved his biggest plays for the second half. Early in the third quarter, one snap after Dexter Lawrence II returned a fumble to the Tennessee 17, Burrow hit Higgins for a 17-yard touchdown. Then, with Cincinnati trailing 36-29 late in the fourth, Higgins caught an 18-yard touchdown with 1:17 left to tie the game. Burrow scrambled in for the winner on the first possession of overtime.

Burrow threw for 462 yards and five touchdowns, and Chase added 11 catches for 141 yards and a score. Our full recap has the rest of a game that ended in a final score the NFL had never seen before.

Where His Season Stands

Higgins now has 726 receiving yards, an average of 103.7 per game. Both numbers rank second in the NFL behind Seattle's Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Higgins is the only player this season with three games of 140 or more receiving yards, per Bengals.com. He is also just the second player this year with at least 10 catches, 150 yards and two touchdowns in a game, joining Carolina's Tetairoa McMillan in Week 4.

He is the fourth Bengal to win a weekly award this season, after kicker Evan McPherson in Week 1 and Burrow and punter Ryan Rehkow in Week 7. Cincinnati players have won 28 weekly awards since the start of the 2021 season, the third most in the league over that span.

The Rest of the Week 8 Honorees

• NFC Offensive: Cardinals running back Tyler Allgeier ran for 147 yards on just 11 carries, including a 63-yard touchdown, and caught a touchdown in Arizona's 33-30 overtime win at Dallas.
• AFC Defensive: Jaguars safety Rayuan Lane III returned an interception of Daniel Jones 92 yards for a touchdown in a 42-7 win over the Colts, in only his second career start.
• NFC Defensive: Buccaneers linebacker Alex Anzalone had two interceptions and six tackles in a rain-soaked 16-0 shutout of the Falcons.
• AFC Special Teams: Raiders running back Dylan Laube returned a kickoff for a touchdown in a 38-33 win over the Jets, the franchise's first kickoff return score since 2011.
• NFC Special Teams: Lions punter Jack Fox averaged 46.5 yards on four punts and pinned three inside the 20 as Detroit handed Minnesota its first loss, 19-15.

What's Next

Higgins and the Bengals face the Atlanta Falcons in Madrid on Sunday, Nov. 8, then come home to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 15.

Sources: NFL.com and Bengals.com. More NFL coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: All-Pro Reels via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).