Jordan Addison and Tee Higgins Stole Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson’s Big Show

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Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings

Heading into Saturday’s Minnesota Vikings vs. Cincinnati Bengals matchup, no one was paying attention to wide receivers Tee Higgins or Jordan Addison. All eyes were on Justin Jefferson’s return redo, after being sent to the hospital early in his original return from his hamstring injury last week vs the Raiders.

A week 15 matchup vs his former LSU Tigers teammate, Ja’Marr Chase, surely helped his determination to get back on the field ASAP. Especially after Chase went on the record earlier in the week saying he, not JJ or Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, is the best WR in the NFL.

Ja’Marr Chase is dreaming

It’s ok for Ja’Marr to believe in himself to a delusional degree, but facts don’t lie when it comes to the ‘best WR in the NFL‘ discussion. Chase isn’t leading the NFL in receiving yards. That honor goes to Tyreek Hill, who has 1,542 yards before he’s even played in Miami’s Week 15 game.

Even if Tyreek were to sit out of Miami’s game on Sunday (he’s questionable to play with an ankle injury), Chase’s 1,156 receiving yards would enter week 16 nearly 400 yards behind Hill. How about touchdown receptions? Nope, that honor, yet again, goes to Hill, who has 12 touchdown (in 13 games) vs Ja’Marr’s 7.

Want to go to per game stats? In the seven games he’s played in this season, Jefferson is averaging 97.4 yards per game, good for 2nd most in the NFL, after Saturday. That mark beats Chase’s 82.6 YPG average by a long shot. But again, nobody tops Tyreek’s 118.6, entering week 15.

Ja’Marr Chase is having a great season, and he is one of the premiere receivers in the NFL. But, he isn’t the best receiver in the NFL. We’ll never know what type of numbers Jefferson could have put up this season, had he not missed parts of eight games with an injury. But when healthy, he and Tyreek Hill are the only options for NFL’s best all-around receiver.

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After Chase talked that trash earlier in the week, all eyes were on the two former teammates Saturday. JJ put up another valiant performance, including 84 yards on 7 catches, some of them pretty incredible. But it was his talented sidekick who stole the show.

Jordan Addison, Tee Higgins steal the show

2023 first-round pick Jordan Addison had one of his best games as an NFL pro. He hauled in all six targets for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Now up to nine scores on the season, Addison leads all other rookie receivers in touchdowns, despite being the fourth pass-catcher drafted last April.

Addison is now up to 824 yards on the season and on pace for exactly 1,000 yards as a rookie. Jefferson had 1,400 as a rookie, but he had Kirk Cousins all season and didn’t have T.J. Hockenson or himself soaking up targets. While Addison’s performance was great to see, there was another wide receiver balling out for the other team.

No, not Ja’Marr Chase. Tee freaking Higgins.

As the ‘other’ Bengals receiver, Higgins is often overlooked. But at 6-foot-4, he certainly made sure he was noticed on Saturday, hauling in four receptions for 61 yards and two touchdowns, including the play of the day.

Addison led the Vikings in yards and touchdowns, despite Jefferson getting more targets (10 vs 6). For Cincinnati, Higgins actually saw more targets than Chase (seven to four), but Chase was more explosive with his opportunities, outgaining his teammate 64 yards to 61.

But the end, it was Higgins who made the biggest catches and he’ll be the one everyone is talking about the rest of this weekend.

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