AFC Notes: Tee Higgins, Joe Flacco, Bengals, Browns, Steelers

Bengals

Bengals WR Tee Higgins said his goal is to play Monday after missing the past three weeks with a hamstring injury.

“My health is way more important than any other [thing], you know what I’m saying?” Higgins said, via ESPN’s Ben Baby. “My thing was I want to get healthy so I can be 100 percent to go out there and play at 100 percent to help my team come out with a W.”

Higgins didn’t anticipate his injury being serious initially.

“I thought it could have been a little strain or something like that,” Higgins said. “But obviously, [we] went in and got the pictures and it was a little worse than we thought.”

Bengals QB Jake Browning said Higgins is an important part of the offense and his presence is invaluable.

“Tee’s one of the top receivers in the NFL,” Browning said. “I don’t think you can really put it into words how important he is to this offense.”

Browns

Browns HC Kevin Stefanski said he’s impressed with QB Joe Flacco‘s ability to come in and learn the offense mid-season and also praised his physical tools.

“Big, strong arm. Obviously, he can make every throw,” Stefanski said, via ESPN’s Jake Trotter. “He’s done a very nice job in the meeting room, getting to know his teammates, getting to know the system. He’s done a nice job.”

Flacco believes he still has a lot in the tank yet to offer.

“I definitely believe I can still play,” Flacco said. “I’m a veteran guy that’s been around a lot at this point in the season with a team that’s doing well. So, I think there’s a lot of different things that I can bring to the table. Whatever my role ends up being and wherever this takes me, then I’ll do my best at that.”

Steelers

Steelers RB Najee Harris walked back his remarks before the firing of former OC Matt Canada saying the team’s offense was fixable but questioned if necessary changes would be made.

“I don’t remember saying that, but everything’s fixable,” Harris said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “It’s just a matter of time, patience, work, a certain type of drive you want. How bad do you want to fix it? How bad do you want to go as a team? I think that we come to understand what we want. We had that meeting, so it is more just putting it on the field and showing it. I think we took a step this past weekend.”

Harris said the team met as a group following the loss to the Browns and said the message shared had an impact on their performance.

“Did it produce results? Yeah, I mean, you could say that,” Harris said. “We had a 400 total yard game. That’s the first time. But sometimes it’s not about the results. Sometimes it’s understanding — understanding of each other, the type of team that we are. This is a bond, and if we break up as a team, then we lost. If you guys write the stuff that you guys write, it could be whatever it wants, but if we lose each other, then we lost. So it’s more of just the trust in each other and knowing that nothing could break what we got in the room rather than what you guys write on social media.“