Cleveland Browns WR Rashard Higgins announced his retirement earlier this week, wrapping up a seven-year NFL career. A 2016 draft pick, Higgins spent most of his time with the Browns, and all his receptions came there. He played 2023 with the Carolina Panthers but failed to catch a pass.
Reflecting on his career in an interview on the Cleveland Browns’ YouTube channel, Higgins said he has two favorite memories. One, breaking their winless streak in 2018. The other, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2020 Wild Card game.
“The Steelers at home and we just had a dog walk in the park with them,” Higgins told the Cleveland Browns Daily. “We wanted to go to the playoffs so bad. We knew what we needed to do.”
And the Browns got it done. They also got help from the Steelers, who made plenty of early mistakes to dig themselves a hole. Center Maurkice Pouncey snapped high over QB Ben Roethlisberger’s head on the first snap, leading to a Browns touchdown. By the end of the first quarter, Cleveland raced out to a 28-0 lead, stunning the Steelers. They won despite being impacted by COVID, including having head coach Kevin Stefanski at home with interim Mike Priefe taking his place along the sidelines.
Though the Steelers settled in, the damage was done. The Browns won 48-37, forcing 5 Pittsburgh turnovers while playing clean football themselves. QB Baker Mayfield threw 3 touchdowns, RB Kareem Hunt scored twice on the ground, and four different Browns’ players intercepted a pass.
It marked Cleveland’s first playoff win since 1994 and was their equivalent of winning the Super Bowl.
“That feeling, that celebration in the locker room. We partied like it was 1999 again. It was amazing.”
Of course, 1999 is a reference for when the Browns returned to Cleveland. Pittsburgh welcomed them with a butt-whooping, 43-0 in that return to the league, but the Browns got their revenge 20 years later.
Since that game, neither team has won in the playoffs. The Steelers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2021 and Buffalo Bills in 2023, while the Browns fell to the Houston Texans this past season. They’ll battle it out in a tough AFC North in 2024 sans Higgins, who will be enjoying his post-football career.
