The Cincinnati Bengals found themselves in a hole at halftime of Super Bowl LVI. The Los Angeles Rams held a 13-10 lead, but the good news for Cincinnati was that they had the ball first. Thanks to their big play offense and a referee that didn’t catch a pretty obvious penalty, it took one play for them to go on top.
Joe Burrow dropped back to start the second half and faked a handoff to Joe Mixon. He stepped up in the pocket in the face of some pressure and immediately looked deep down the field, where he found Tee Higgins 1-on-1 with Jalen Ramsey. While it was a risk — Ramsey is quite good! — Burrow let one rip to his big receiver.
At first glance, it looked like Ramsey fell down, which led to Higgins winning a jump ball and coasting into the end zone for a 75-yard reception.
Burrow to Higgins for 75 yards and the @Bengals have the lead! #RuleItAll
: #SBLVI on NBC
: https://t.co/K02y40b5Nu pic.twitter.com/lTfM3W8nyA
— NFL (@NFL) February 14, 2022
Some subsequent angles showed that Higgins was really, really lucky that this play stood. The former Clemson standout grabbed Ramsey’s face mask and yanked it towards him, causing the All-Pro cornerback to go tumbling to the ground.
Tee Higgins definitely got away with one. Grabbed Ramsey’s facemask. pic.twitter.com/yg4yFxd9VY
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) February 14, 2022
Ramsey was understandably not happy about this one, but thanks to the lack of a flag, Higgins got his second score of the game.