Is Dont'a Hightower pointed in the right direction? Sounds like Bill Belichick thinks so

FOXBOROUGH — When Dont’a Hightower was informed Bill Belichick had a lot of nice things to say about his work against the Chiefs in this week’s edition of “The Belestrator,” he paused for a second.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about at all. It’s on what?”

The linebacker was told it was on the Patriots website. Is that the sort of thing that shows up in the team film sessions?

“I’m going to go look it up. More times than not, it’s usually lowlights,” he said with a smile. “We’re not really getting too much praise here. I’m going to go check that out.

“(It’s nice) when it’s coming from the bossman.”

Belichick isn't the only one who might believe Hightower is trending in the right direction. Hightower, who confessed to having knee issues earlier in the season, said earlier this year he was feeling better physically. He hit on the same point Thursday, and sounded like a man who is trending in the right direction health-wise.

“I feel like I’m getting better each week, and hopefully, I’ll continue to do that,” he said. “I still missed a couple of plays (against Kansas City). Missed assignments or whatever. Just going to keep going to strive to be better each week.”

It sounds like he feels the same way about the state of the defense.

“I feel like we’re taking the right strides,” he said. “Each week, we prepare the best way that we can. Most times we come out with a good game plan. We come in with corrections and make those on the sideline. Hopefully, we continue to do that, and continue to get better at those adjustments.

“It’s just about continuing to build on the last week,” he added. “Last week, we played pretty good, except for the big plays. Kansas City is known for that, and Chicago can do the same with the skill players they’ve got and the way they can get the ball to all those guys. We just have to continue to build on last week — play aggressive, play fast, play physical. And get everybody to the ball.”

While there are some similarities to what Chicago and Kansas City do offensively — which can be traced back to the fact Bears coach Matt Nagy used to serve as Andy Reid’s OC — Hightower thinks some of that might be overblown.

“I think there’s maybe a little bit, but I think Nagy is doing his own thing,” he said when asked if there are similarities. “Obviously, coming up in their tree, there will be some things that correlate, but I think (Nagy is) doing his own thing.

“Some of that stuff might look the same to you all, but some of that stuff is not really the same, so to speak.”