Four times over the last five years, the New England Patriots did not send their selected players to participate in the Pro Bowl. Instead, they were preparing for the only Bowl that really matters in the NFL: the Super Bowl. And when it comes to Dont’a Hightower, one of the three Patriots selected to the league’s all-star games this season, his mind is also set on the championship game rather than the exhibition contest taking place one week earlier.
“It’s a huge honor,” the team captain, who was voted to the second Pro Bowl of his eight-year career, told reporters in the locker room on Wednesday (transcript via NESN’s Zack Cox).