Quiet at the front

FOXBOROUGH -- Had Trent Green been interested, the Kansas City quarterback likely could have had a picnic out there on the torn-up Arrowhead Stadium turf Sunday, cleaned up after himself, and still completed a pass of 20 yards to one of multiple receiving options open downfield.

But don't be so quick to blame the Patriots' defensive backs. True, the decimated secondary isn't exactly clamping down on receivers, but it isn't getting much help from a pass rush that in recent years has confused quarterbacks into bad decisions, bad throws, bad sacks. Whether the poor pass rush has hampered the secondary or the just-off-the-street secondary has hampered the pass rush is open for debate. Either way, the team clearly needs to improve its pressure on the quarterback.

That much is certain.

Though the Patriots managed two sacks of Green -- one by Ty Warren, one by Rosevelt Colvin -- the Chiefs' quarterback wasn't exactly worried about his blind side. It's a long way from the days of Rodney Harrison flying around the corner to flatten an unsuspecting quarterback. But with Harrison's departure (along with five other defensive backs), the secondary has gotten so thin that safeties and cornerbacks are now used almost exclusively in coverage.

''I think we need to get a lot more," said Colvin, who is tied with Willie McGinest for the team lead with just 3 1/2 sacks. ''But rushing the passer and covering receivers go hand in hand. The big thing we need to work on is team defense. If the rush gets there, that helps the guys that are covering, because they don't have to cover as long.

''When it comes to rushing, you would love to get there more, you would love to get more pressure on the quarterback. Sometimes that's not the scheme. Sometimes that's not how you approach the game, but you always want to get to the quarterback."

But the Patriots aren't. Ranked 31st in sacks per pass play (No. 1 Indianapolis has .102 to the Patriots' .043), New England has just 16 in 11 games, as opposed to 35 at the same point in 2004. Sixteen? The team racked up that many in just four games last season.

''The last couple weeks, before this game, I don't think we got much pressure on [quarterbacks]," Tedy Bruschi said. ''So to see it come around a little yesterday was a positive sign. I'm just looking for us to build on that and get more pressure this week. We've got some great rushers that can get there. We've got to play better in the pass coverage to give them more time to get there.

''It's sort of a complementary thing. They do well, it makes the DBs' jobs easier. The DBs do well, it makes the rushers' jobs easier. It's not just pass rush in general, it's the whole concept of the defense."

While the injury report has grown with the addition of defensive backs, none of them, with the exception of Harrison, were known as particularly effective pass rushers. After Harrison's 27 1/2 career sacks, exactly nine are spread among the rest of the defensive backs on the active roster and injured reserve.

But the Patriot with the most career sacks hasn't spent much time on the field at all, let alone much time disrupting the pocket. Chad Brown, proud owner of 78 sacks over his 13 years in the NFL, has ceded his playing time to Bruschi. And playing on the inside, he doesn't get nearly as many opportunities to bolster the rush.

It's a focus for the team, sure. But with the rest of the defense in shreds, it's not the focus.

''There's a lot of things that could be improved on defense," said coach Bill Belichick.

''When it comes to changing it and making a different adjustment, you can do that. Anytime you do that, that will displace something somewhere else.

''There's a lot of things that we could do better defensively -- rushing the passer is one of them. There are several after that that you could add. Believe me."