On paper, Frank Pollack says it's his best Bengals O-line; Ja'Marr is limited; Tee is limited but considers playing all 17; Defensive revenge relies on physicality

On a day when wide receiver Tee Higgins was talking about playing every game for the first time since his rookie year in 2020, he appeared on the injury report with the explanation that he was limited with a hamstring issue. That injury was the reason he missed four games and much of a fifth last season, but he was back to full force after practice Thursday, holding court with various media members for several minutes.

“I feel great,” said Higgins, who had a terrific preseason and is set for a monster year with his $23 million franchise tag.

If you want to know why Higgins signed the contract so he could get to training camp on time, just listen to what he said Thursday about why he came back in last season's loss at Kansas City after re-harming his hamstring injury on the first drive of a game they needed to survive in Week 17.

“I want to go to the Super Bowl. Who doesn't want to play football?” Higgins asked. “I sat there for those two quarters and it was eating me up.”

Higgins spent the offseason working on his body and nutrition, spending time in Florida and at home in Tennessee, focusing on staying healthy for all 17 games.

“I definitely want to do that, 1,000%. I feel like this is the year,” Higgins said. “I've been doing different stretches that I learned during the offseason. Certain foods I try to avoid. It's not a lot to it. I've just been jumping around in different places and picking up new things that I can incorporate into my routine before and after practice and before and after games.”

He still enjoys his fries, but fast food is now only available occasionally and not as often.

Both he and running mate Ja'Marr Chase were listed as limited on Thursday as Chase gets back into shape after returning to practice this week as part of negotiations for his contract extension.

Regardless, they're in better shape than the last time they played together, which was that night in Kansas City when they were both around 70% despite Higgins' hamstring injury and Chase's shoulder soreness.

Higgins insisted Chase is Chase and joined the locker room chorus saying he was ready for Sunday. Asked if he would be surprised if Chase played 60 snaps, Higgins said, “It wouldn't surprise me at all.”

The Patriots look to stay afloat on the road in Jerod Mayo's debut as NFL head coach and are expected to run the ball against a Bengals defense that is ranked 26th.^th against last year's run with a pair of 230-pound running backs, Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson.

Not if the Bengals' new, experienced defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins can do anything about it.

“I understand that may be the goal, but our intent is to never let anyone run the ball against us,” Rankins said. “I understand that was a problem last year, and I understand last year was last year. The guys that played here last year and the new additions, the standard we set for ourselves every time we step on the field is to dominate every game.”

Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, confident his defense is better overall, is anticipating the run and believes the Bengals will stop it.

“I think that's how they're built. They have two really good running backs,” Anarumo said. “I can only go back to what we've done so far. I think we've done a good job in practice. Our starters didn't get a lot of chances in the preseason, but when they did, they did well. Our backups did well in the running game against some starting groups. We can only go back to what we've seen, and so far, what we've seen has been good.”

Anarumo said the corrections had been made.

“We just need to play more gap sound, be more aware of how we're being tackled and be better tacklers,” said Anarumo, who still criticizes last season's missed tackles. “I really don't want to go back and talk about it, but those 200 yards after contact, there were issues with replacing cracks, there were things we can easily fix now. On offense, we need to be more physical. That's been a point of emphasis. And we need to be great tacklers. That's going to help all of us.”

Anarumo says that was the motto of the training camp.

“Physicality. Physicality. One word,” said Anarumo.