Bengals WR Tee Higgins plays just one snap, Zac Taylor says he was injured in warmups

Hours before the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns kicked off, there was a big move in the betting market for that game.

The Bengals, who were 6-point favorites most of the week, were suddenly just 4-point favorites at BetMGM on Sunday morning. Line moves like that happen on the day of an NFL game without news of an injury, but it's fairly rare. Lamarr Mitchell, the director of the race and sports book at MGM Grand, said a lot of sharp money came in on the Browns. That caused the change.

Maybe it's just a coincidence that Bengals receiver Tee Higgins played one snap on Sunday with a hamstring injury. But it was a little strange. It was horrible for fantasy players who had Higgins and needed to win in Week 14 to make the playoffs.

The Bengals won anyway, 23-10. They covered the spread, whether bettors had them at -6 or -4. It still led to questions over why Higgins was practically inactive, despite not being on the team's injury report (he was listed as limited with a hamstring injury in Thursday and Friday's practice but had no injury designation for the game).

Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Higgins, who has 861 yards this season and is one of the NFL's best receivers, was injured in warmups. Taylor said Higgins snuck on the field for the first snap. He didn't play after that.

It was a nightmare for fantasy managers, who submitted lineups not realizing Higgins would put up a zero. There was no announcement before the game and reporters at the game were as curious as anyone when Higgins wasn't on the field after the first play.

Whatever happened, the NFL will probably make a call and make sure there were no injury report shenanigans going on. Not that it will help fantasy managers.