JOB FOR UNDERDOG

INDIANAPOLIS -- They are undefeated, unintimidated and unaffected by the Super Bowl hangover that has hampered so many past champions.

Heading into today’s showdown with New England, the Indianapolis Colts are something else too.

Underdogs.

Even though the Colts have won 12 consecutive games dating to last season -- including a victory over New England in last January’s AFC championship game -- the Patriots (8-0) are favored by 4 1/2 points.

Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy dismisses that with a shrug.

“The point spreads are really public opinion. That’s one thing I do understand,” said Dungy, whose team is 7-0. “They’re trying to get an even number of bets on both sides, so they have to respond to public opinion, not to any reality. A lot of people obviously think New England’s going to win. They probably have watched the Patriots more than I have, so the public probably has a pretty good idea of things.

“We’ve been 10-, 11-, 13-point favorites sometimes and you say, ‘How could this happen?’ It’s just to get the betting right. It’s not something we worry about that much.”

In this historic game -- the first meeting of teams 7-0 or better -- the bulk of the expectations sit squarely on the shoulders of the Patriots, who have outscored teams by an average of 25.5 points. That’s the biggest differential since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.

This is the first time in franchise history the Patriots have been 8-0. The last time they were close to that was 2004, when they were 7-1 on their way to winning Super Bowl XXXIX.

Tom Brady is the overwhelming midseason favorite to win his first most-valuable-player award, and receiver Randy Moss needs only one touchdown catch to tie Stanley Morgan’s club record of 12. Already, Moss has as many scoring grabs as he collected his last two seasons with the Raiders.

On defense, the Patriots and Colts are ranked third and fourth, respectively.

New England Coach Bill Belichick and his players are quick to point out the Colts have beaten them three consecutive times, two of those in Foxborough.

“The Colts are the best team in football,” Belichick said last week, in his typical style of pumping the opponent sky high. “They’re champions; nobody’s beaten them. They do everything well. They’re very good on offense and defense. They don’t turn the ball over. They don’t give up big plays. They’re versatile. They can stop the run. . . . I think the most impressive thing is just how few mistakes they make.”

A big mistake -- and one the Colts have vowed not to make -- is taking any of that talk too seriously.

With that in mind, Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning began pregame preparations Wednesday with this declaration: “Let the compliment-fest begin!”

The Colts have traveled this path before. They won their first 13 games in 2005, and began last season 9-0. So this isn’t anything new. Only now they’re the chasers and not the chased.

“I don’t think it matters whether you’re chasing or being chased,” Dungy said. “I know one thing: getting a little less public scrutiny or media scrutiny is pretty good. You don’t have as much in terms of distractions that way, but in terms of trying to prepare and whether you’ve won the last year or they’ve won the last year, it’s really all the same. You’re looking at this year’s team and trying to see what you can come up with to try to counteract that.”

It’s not uncommon for Super Bowl winners to take a downturn the following season, a trend that’s even more pronounced among Super Bowl losers.

Dungy said he and his players talked after the Super Bowl about how they could avoid a similar slump. He attributed the consistently high level of play to veterans on the roster.

“One thing for me was I talked to Marv Levy at the combine,” Dungy said, referring to the former Buffalo coach who led his team to four consecutive Super Bowls, although none of those Bills teams won the championship. “I asked him about going back so many times and how they were able to do it, and he said the one thing you have to guard against is trying to do too much.

“You have this sense that hey, we’ve got to improve; we’ve got to work harder. And the guys have played a lot of football, so you have to make sure they’re physically ready to go, so we did rest up a little more in the off-season. We started our off-season program later, we tried to go into training camp late, and tried to stay as fresh as we could and then count on the players to work hard and they’ve done a good job of that.”

In the process, some of the players have gotten pretty comfortable with the underdog role.

“You know, we enjoy it, man,” Indianapolis safety Bob Sanders said. “It’s tough when everyone’s saying you’re the greatest thing ever and this and that, because if you lose and you go down then what do they say?”

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