As the Buffalo Bills prepare for a big AFC showdown this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals, they will now have to prepare for an extra obstacle that they must overcome to send the Bengals back home with a loss.
According to Bengals beat writer Ben Baby of ESPN, the Bengals will get wide receiver Tee Higgins back in time to take on the Bills. Higgins missed time with a concussion, but now he has cleared concussion protocol and will suit up for the Bengals to take on the Bills.
Bengals WR Tee Higgins has cleared concussion protocol and is full go for Sunday vs. Buffalo.
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) December 5, 2025
Bills' path to a Week 14 win just got harder with Tee Higgins update
So now, the Bills’ defense won’t have to just worry about Ja’Marr Chase making plays, but now Tee Higgins comes back into the lineup to do some damage. While Buffalo’s pass-defense has been their best unit on the defense, the Bengals’ passing attack has shown to be extremely dangerous and can take over a game.
Especially with having Joe Burrow back under center, this Buffalo defense will be tested early and consistently. Sean McDermott and Bobby Babich have to find a way to contain it. Stopping it is highly unlikely, so the focus ultimately needs to be the coverage schemes, and creating pressure on Burrow.
Higgins currently has 575 yards and 7 touchdowns on the season, making him a great No. 2 in that offense. As for Chase, he is 29 yards short of 1,000 yards this season and he also has 5 touchdowns himself.
The Bills are going to have to do some heavy rotation in the secondary between Christian Benford, Tre’Davious White, Maxwell Hairston, and Taron Johnson in order to try and slow down this 1-2 punch that the Bengals have outside the numbers.
If Buffalo’s defense can’t slow down Cincinnati, that’s only going to put more pressure on Josh Allen and his offense to keep up. We all know that Buffalo’s offense has been very inconsistent this season so they can’t take any chances on the offense being the sole reason why Buffalo wins this game.