Projo Pats Blog

By ROBERT LEE
Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO -- Patriots defensive coordinator Dean Pees hopes that he has figured out a way to get to Denver quarterback Jay Cutler tonight.

Nobody has had that much success getting to him so far. He has only been sacked a league-low two times in six games.

Sacks are good, but putting pressure on Cutler can be just as effective, New England coach Bill Belichick said.

"I think the sack statistic can be a little over rated," Belichick said. "It is really about pressure and forcing the ball out, on time or early. You always want to get pressure on the quarterback; there is no doubt about that."

Cutler gives a lot of credit for not being sacked a lot to his offensive line.

"Early in the year, the first couple of games, we saw a lot of blitzes and the line did a good job of picking stuff up, I got rid of the ball in time and we've been fortunate the last two or three games that people aren't blitzing us as much," Cutler said. "The way the offensive line is playing I have a lot of confidence in them."

The Patriots haven't had a lot of success so far this season getting to opposing quarterbacks. They rank 30th out of 32 teams with only seven quarterback sacks. Even so, Cutler respects New England's defense.

"They're a good defense," Cutler said. "They're extremely smart. They're able to take away some of the good players from some teams offensively. They mix it up; they do a lot of different stuff. They throw stuff at you, they're in a 3-4 then they're in a 4-3. They just keep you on your toes so we're going to have our hands full."

 Tags  Bill Belichick Dean Pees New England Patriots

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