The Patriots will be playing the rest of the season without linebacker Dont’a Hightower after Hightower tore his pectoral muscle in last Sunday’s victory over the Falcons.
Hightower has been a key piece of the Patriots defense for years and one of his longtime teammates said he knows it is “very frustrating” for the linebacker to deal with this injury. Safety Devin McCourty also shared what he thinks Hightower’s loss will mean for the defense.
“It’s a tough loss,” McCourty said in comments distributed by the team. “I mean, obviously, he’s a guy who’s been out there for a lot of years now, played multiple roles on the defense, different spots, communication, everything. I mean, he’s a huge part of what we do. We’ve been out there for a couple games without him, so we know what that’s like, but it’s always the same thing – when a guy like that goes down, a bunch of guys have to step up and kind of try to fill that role, and in this case, a bunch of different roles. It’s a tough loss for us defensively, but it’s something we’ll have to overcome.”
McCourty is confident that the Patriots will overcome it. He’s been on Patriots teams that have overcome major absences in the past and believes “we’ll always figure it out,” although he does note that “we can’t afford for it to take a while” for things to come together. Hightower missed a couple of games earlier this season, so they’ve had some experience without him in the lineup to draw on as they come up with a new plan on defense.