CINCINNATI -- Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is back in the concussion protocol, coach Zac Taylor said Monday.
Higgins reported concussion-like symptoms following the team's 39-34 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Higgins was evaluated in the team's injury tent twice and cleared both checks, enabling him to return and finish the game.
The sixth-year wide receiver took a couple of hard falls on a cold and snowy day at Buffalo's Highmark Stadium. Higgins lobbied to stay in the game and indicated that he was OK to play. However, that changed hours later. Taylor said that Sunday night and Monday morning, Higgins said he was experiencing symptoms.
"We'll put him back in the protocol and we'll go through that this week," Taylor said.
Higgins' return to the protocol comes just two weeks after he appeared to suffer a severe head injury in a Nov. 23 game against the New England Patriots. After Higgins went up for a pass that fell incomplete, he was motionless on the turf at Paycor Stadium for minutes before he finally sat up and was carted back to the team's locker room. He was placed in the concussion protocol and missed the team's next game four days later, a win over the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving Day.
He cleared protocol Friday, two days before the game against the Bills.
"It was very scary," Higgins said last week of the injury. "Any head injury is very scary. Thank God that I'm able to play again this weekend and keep playing for the rest of the season."
After Sunday, that is in doubt. Asked whether the second concussion could affect the recovery timeline for Higgins, Taylor said the team will have more information later in the week.
On one hard fall in the first half against Buffalo, Higgins tried to catch a ball that was sailing out of bounds. As he came down on the Bills' sideline, he stayed on the ground for a few minutes, and personnel on that sideline signaled for Cincinnati's trainers to give him a look. After a stint in the blue injury tent, Higgins came back into the game.
Later, he dropped a couple of potential receptions. In the fourth quarter, he bobbled an incoming pass as he ran across the field before finally clutching the ball as he went to the ground. But after he completed the 18-yard play, he was slow to get up.
Higgins walked to the sideline and stood before trainers went over to see him. After an initial exchange with trainers, Higgins appeared to throw his head back and his arms to the side before walking back into the injury tent.
He again returned to the contest and made a one-handed catch with 2:13 remaining to keep Cincinnati within striking distance. He finished the game with six catches for a team-high 92 yards and two touchdowns.
Afterward at his locker, Higgins said he didn't consider sitting out the game after the concussion checks, even with the recent one he suffered. Since signing a four-year contract with the team worth $115 million, Higgins had not missed a game this season until he suffered the concussion against the Patriots.
"I'm a team-first guy," Higgins said. "My team needed me. I felt like they did, so I went out there and played and tried to dog this out with my team."
He added that "soldiers take hits" when asked about the plays.
"It's football," Higgins said. "It's the name of the game. Just gotta get up [and have] a next-play mentality."
Taylor said that during the game, the only information he is given is whether or not a player is available following an evaluation by a neurotrauma consultant who is "a physician who is impartial and independent from any club," according to the NFL's protocol guidelines.
Out of concern for Higgins, Taylor said, he had a one-on-one conversation to see whether Higgins was experiencing any symptoms. Higgins told Taylor that he felt fine and just took a couple of hits. Taylor added that Higgins cleared all checks before the team prepared to return to Cincinnati.
"And then postgame, you get on the plane and come in this morning and he's doing the right thing and saying, 'OK, now I don't feel great,'" Taylor said. "So we'll put him back in the protocol."
