FOXBORO, Mass. — Losing Super Bowl LII was a gut punch to every New England Patriots player who suited up for that game. But it might have been even more painful for those stuck on the sideline.
That unlucky group included veteran linebacker and co-captain Dont’a Hightower, who missed playoff games for the first time in his career after suffering a season-ending torn pectoral muscle in Week 7.
Hightower didn’t mince words when asked Thursday about missing New England’s postseason run, which ended in a 41-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in February.
“It hurt,” he said. “It sucked. But it goes to show, you’re one play away from missing (time). I’m used to missing a couple of games and being able to fight through it, but this year, I wasn’t able to do that. So I’m trying to take every minute I can to prevent that from happening again.”
Hightower seems to be on the right track.
He wouldn’t say he’s back to 100 percent — “I don’t have any numbers, percentages, none of that” — but the 28-year-old was a full participant Thursday on Day 5 of Patriots organized team activities and said he’s been practicing without limitations, though he was absent from last Tuesday’s session.
“I’ve been doing everything since OTAs started,” Hightower said. “I’m still rehabbing and still getting my extra lifts and all that other good stuff in, but as far as how I feel, I feel good.”
He added: “It feels good to get my feet wet, my feet back under me. It feels good to be back out with my teammates, new and old. I’ve just got to keep moving forward and keep getting better.”
Hightower has been one of the Patriots’ best defensive players for much of his career, but his durability remains an issue. He’s played a full 16-game schedule just once since he entered the NFL in 2012 and has missed a total of 27 games over his six pro seasons.
Last year’s absence was his longest by far, as the torn pec and a knee injury suffered in Week 1 combined to sideline him for all but five of New England’s 19 games. Hightower filled that void with endless hours of film study, focusing on improving his football IQ while unable to help his team on the field.
Hightower credited first-year coaching assistant DeMarcus Covington with helping him in this endeavor. He also sought input from players on the other side of the ball, including quarterbacks Tom Brady and Brian Hoyer.
“I watched a lot of film of myself,” Hightower said. “I saw a lot of things that I need to work on. DeMarcus Covington did a great job with that as far as in our linebacker room, helping us. One of the things I wanted to be able to work on and learn a little bit more about was man-to-man coverage, and we were working more on that — why we’re running this certain style and why our philosophy is what it is.
“So a little bit deeper than ‘what is Cover 2?’ or ‘what is Cover 5?’ or ‘why do we run that?’ (It’s) picking some of the offensive guys’ brains — Hoyer, Brady — like, ‘Whenever we’re in Cover 2, what are you looking at? If we’re doubling over here, what are you looking at?’ It definitely made me sit back and want to learn a little bit more about the game so that can help me get back and be able to move a little bit quicker than what I am.”
