FOXBORO, Mass. — Dont’a Hightower sported a red non-contact jersey after Thursday’s New England Patriots practice, indicating the linebacker had not been a full participant in the session.
Asked afterward how he felt health-wise, Hightower offered a straightforward response.
“I feel like I’ve been playing football for a year,” the Patriots co-captain said.
Hightower has played the fourth-most snaps of any Patriots defender this season, but he saw his playing time diminish during Sunday’s AFC Championship Game. After playing every defensive snap in the divisional round, the 2016 Pro Bowl pick played just 52 percent of them in a conference title-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It is (an adjustment),” said Hightower, who is dealing with a shoulder injury. “But in the long (run), it’s really kind of knowing your role and accepting what it is. (The Patriots coaching staff) are going to do the best job they can as far as putting the right guys out there and calling the right calls, so if rotating, however we’re doing it, if that’s the call, if that’s the play, then I’m not here to argue. As long as we get that (win) at the end.”
Hightower sat out New England’s Week 16 win over the New York Jets with a knee injury and also missed two games earlier in the season.
When asked whether the decrease in snaps against Pittsburgh was intended to preserve his body for Super Bowl LI, which will be played next Sunday night in Houston, Hightower deferred to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
“That’s something for Bill,” he said. “They tell me I’m down a series or rotating or whatever, I’m not here to bitch or argue. I’m just, ‘Yes, sir.’ ”
The Patriots’ Super Bowl opponent will be the Atlanta Falcons, who led the NFL in points scored during the regular season.
Thumbnail photo via Geoff Burke/USA TODAY Sports Images
