FOXBOROUGH – You might now know it, but the New England Patriots' defense is actually among the best in two separate areas.

Entering Week 9, New England's 23 sacks this season are the fifth-most in the league and is tied for first in takeaways with 16. The Patriots' Week 8 win over the New York Jets featured a bit of both. They sacked Jets quarterback Zach Wilson twice and intercepted him three times in the 22-17 victory.

Patriots safety Devin McCourty believes there's a correlation between the two stats.

“Young guy, old guy, whoever you play at quarterback, I think one of the key things is always pressure,” McCourty said. “I don’t think anybody wants to sit back there and throw the ball and worry about getting hit. When you can do that it changes the game for us in the back, and we’ve been very fortunate. Obviously, [Matthew] Judon jumps off the screen with his play and production.

“But I would say everybody at our front. Whether it’s been [Deatrich Wise], even [Lawrence Guy] got a sack last week. So, all of those guys being disruptive up front really helps us in the back end. That will be another big thing for us this week.”

McCourty was a beneficiary of all the pressure the Patriots brought in Week 8. The Patriots recorded 16 pressures on Wilson's 44 dropbacks. Two of those pressures resulted in interceptions for McCourty, with the veteran free safety catching two balls from the opposing quarterback uncontested.

While Wilson certainly got his on Sunday, throwing for 355 yards, he completed fewer than 50 percent of his total passes (20-of-41). The mobile quarterback only took off for one run, too, showing that the Patriots might have turned a corner defensively after a lackluster Week 7 performance against the Chicago Bears.

As the Patriots prepare for another quarterback who can move around in Sam Ehlinger and the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, McCourty knows what his team has to do in order to have similar success in Week 9.

“I don’t know how many interceptions we have without a guy in the quarterback’s face,” McCourty said. “I would have to go back and watch all of them. But from what I remember a lot of the interceptions we have it’s been somebody bearing down on the quarterback and getting a hand up or about to hit them. I think that’s led to that. And attacking the football. Guys punching at the ball, guys wrapping up tackling has been one of the keys to those takeaways. It’s something we got to keep doing.”