Hightower holds court
Hopes extra communication helps mates
FOXBORO — The Patriots are working overtime to correct the myriad defensive issues that have torpedoed them to the bottom of the AFC East standings.
One example: Following a Wednesday team meeting for players in the defensive front seven, the discussion spilled over into the locker room.
Veteran linebacker Dont’a Hightower made his way around the room, first visiting with secondyear defensive end Derek Rivers, then stopping by the lockers of Lawrence Guy and Deatrich Wise to discuss the intricacies of specific defensive situations.
This lasted a solid 10 minutes, as Hightower led the back-and-forth with several defensive linemen.
“It’s real important,” Hightower said. “Not that we’re lacking it, but it’s something that we’ve really taken more a hands-on (approach) and we’re trying be a lot more detailed in it. We put it upon ourselves to kind of split up and spend more time on it — and it kind of went on a little longer than we wanted to — but it’s really just trying to get everything down pat. When everybody knows exactly what everybody else is doing, we’re able to play faster.”
Hightower added: “We’re trying to do everything we can to be more knowledgeable on anything that can happen.”
So far, a bunch of things have happened to the Patriots defense. None of them have been particularly positive.
The Pats have been torched every way possible. Blake Bortles and the Jaguars moved the ball as they pleased through the air. The Lions were most effective handing the ball off to Kerryon Johnson and LeGarrette Blount (and still pretty effective throwing it).
The Pats rank second-tolast in run defense. They’re third-to-last in third-down defense. As Hightower indicated yesterday, that’s because the Patriots are perpetually allowing opponents to create manageable third-down scenarios.
“Last week, that was more or less the big story — first and second down,” Hightower said. “Not really as much third down, but just how we attack first and second down.”
Hightower himself has become a secondary storyline on a shaky Patriots defense. He’s not moving well in space; for example, Johnson beat Hightower to the edge with ease for a 14-yard gain in the second half. He’s failing to consistently get off blocks, too. Speaking on a recent Ringer podcast, former Patriots executive Mike Lombardi suggested that the Pats should move Hightower to defensive end because “when he’s at linebacker they are really slow.”
The seven-year veteran offered little reaction to Lombardi’s comments.
“That’s not my coach,” Hightower said. “I mean, if that’s what Bill (Belichick) or Flo (Brian Flores) want to do, then we’ll handle it at that.”
Hightower has always been a versatile presence for the Patriots, serving as a run-stuffing middle linebacker and one of the team’s best pass-rushers when deployed in such a role.
Coming off a torn pectoral that ended his 2017 season, Hightower is admittedly off to a slow start this year.
“I feel I’m elevating each week,” he said. “Obviously, it’s still early in the season. We all have a lot of work to do, but me personally, I hold myself to a higher standard than that. Pushing off of last week, I had a good week (of practice), didn’t play great, but I just want to continue to get better each week and that’s all I can hope for.”
Hightower appeared in only five games a year ago. A knee injury limited him early in the year, and then he suffered the pectoral injury in Week 7. For the first time in his professional career, Hightower missed more than two consecutive games. In August, Hightower acknowledged that the time away from the game helped his knee, but said it remains “something that obviously I’ll have to manage” throughout the year.
Even if his athleticism isn’t what it once was, Hightower remains an incredibly important part of the defense. He’s maintained a leadership role, as evidenced by his extended conversations with teammates Wednesday.
“A lot of times it will kind of help guys maybe see things or play things a lot quicker knowing what to expect and kind of what everybody else sees,” Hightower said. “Any time that all 11 guys can be on the same page and see the same thing at the same time, guys can play and react a little bit quicker. So, any time you can have that dialect outside the locker room, not necessarily with the coaches, but amongst yourselves to kind of know what we’re expecting being on the field together really helps.”