Last week, the New England Patriots looked in danger of being buried early in the AFC East standings. After two straight losses, the two-time defending conference champions had the undefeated Miami Dolphins coming to Foxborough.

But the Patriots buried the Dolphins instead, beating Miami 38-7. After yielding 894 yards in losses to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions and being gashed for 167 rushing yards in its season-opening win against the Houston Texans, New England held the Dolphins to 172 yards.

The green dot was one of the differences for the Patriots defense on Sunday. The green dot goes on the helmet of the player who has radio communication with the team's coaches. Rookie linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley had the green dot in the loss to the Lions. Against the Dolphins, Dont'a Hightower, who'd been used in a variety of positions over the first three games, was back at middle linebacker, wearing the green dot and communicating the calls from the sideline to his defensive teammates.

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Hightower didn't jump off the stat sheet. The former Alabama All-American was credited with two tackles. But what Hightower meant to New England's defense wasn't illustrated by individual numbers, but how the Patriots performed as a unit.

"Sometimes players, maybe they can't even tell you how they know what the right thing to do is, they just know what the right thing to do is," New England coach Bill Belichick said when asked on Monday about Hightower's ability to make pre-snap contributions. "Sometimes they anticipate it. Sometimes it just comes to them just instinctively. But High's a smart player. He can play multiple positions. The mental part of the game seems to come very easy for him, going between Mike or Sam or Will or defensive end or a different position in pass rush on third down. Assignment-wise, all those come pretty easily for him, and athletically he has a great combination of size, power, pass rush, zone, man coverage -- he's done all those things for us.

"How does he know what to do? I'm sure it's a combination of all those things, like it is with a lot of great players. ... Through my experience with players, sometimes they can't even give you an answer. They know, but they just don't know. They just kind of -- it just sort of looks a little different, and that's how they knew it was a screen or that's how they knew it was a play-action pass or that's how they knew it was something that was a little bit different. They could just instinctively figure it out.

"But, yeah, that position, the middle linebacker position, is a key communication position for us on defense, as it is for every team -- middle linebacker to safety, like center-quarterback are on offense. So when you're in the middle of the formation, that's the person who has to coordinate the things in front of them, and the communication works from the inside out, not the outside in. So Dont'a does a good job of that, and again, because of his experience at all the different linebacker positions as well as defensive end, I think he has a real good feel for what everybody else needs to know and how important it is that they get the proper communication because he's played all those spots. And so he does a great job for us in that area."

Hightower isn't a defensive captain for the Patriots this season, as he was last year. But on Thursday, he was at the center of a post-practice meeting among the defensive players in the locker room.

"It's good to kind of see what perceptions are going throughout, why we're doing this," Hightower said. "A lot of times it will help guys maybe see things or play things a lot quicker, knowing what to expect and kind of what everybody else sees. Any time all 11 guys can be on the same page and see the same things at the same time, guys can play and react a little quicker. Any time you can have that dialogue, not only with the coaches but amongst yourselves, you can kind of know what we're expecting being on the field together. It helps."

The Patriots will open Week 5 of the NFL's 2018 season on Thursday, when the Indianapolis Colts visit Gillette Stadium. The game kicks off at 7:20 p.m. CDT and will be televised by FOX, NFL Network and Amazon Prime Video.

New England Patriots linebacker Dont'a Hightower pressures Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill during an NFL game on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.