Carpenter’s Return Not Necessarily Because of Hightower Injury :Pats Pub

Good take from Steve:

The one glaring weakness for the Patriots front seven thus far this year has been the coverage gaps in the linebackers. I thought Carpenter did a good job with that this summer, which is why most all of the Pats beat writers had him on the team. Regardless of how long Hightower is out, if at all this week, Carpenter fills a valuable role. When the Patriots go to their sub-packages, Carpenter can hang with the tight ends much better than any of their starters. I think the coaches over-estimated the other LBers ability to cover. Carpenter’s return will remedy that quickly.