Dont’a Hightower to take over Patriots defensive play-calling
By Josh Sanchez
New England Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo has been officially ruled out for the season after surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle, so that left the team in search of a man to take over his role as the quarterback of the defense and making all of the calls.
Enter Dont’a Hightower.
With Mayo out, Hightower has been informed that he will be in charge of handling the duties and he seems to be perfectly comfortable with the added responsibility.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Hightower said, via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald. “I’ve talked to Matty. I’ve talked to Pepper about it. It’s definitely something that I knew down the road, if something ever happened, I knew that I would have to step up and do it.
“I’m not nervous about it. It’s something that I’ve done before, maybe not in the NFL, but I’ve done it before. I know everybody is behind me and they support me, so that’s all I can ask for.”
The Patriots need to desperately find someone who can step up to fill the voids left by Mayo and Vince Wilfork, so they will definitely hope that Hightower will make the first step in helping the team make up for the loss of their defensive stars.