Bob Cook

The Indianapolis Colts are the defending Super Bowl champions. They are also the first team since the NFL required helmets to start three straight seasons winning their first seven games. Yet the New England Patriots enter Sunday’s game — at Indianapolis — as the oddsmakers’ favorite, having attracted most of the attention for the crazy numbers they’re piling up.

Who do the Patriots think they are, Alex Rodriguez?

Then again, like Rodriguez, the pressure is on the Patriots Sunday to prove they can perform in a big game. Meanwhile, the pressure that’s not on Indianapolis this season means the Colts can lose the game, and not suffer the slings and arrows New England would if the Patriots lost.

Sound strange? Certainly. Especially given that plenty of the New England players who won three Super Bowls, two of which were preceded by playoff smackdowns of what was supposed to be superior Colts teams, are still around. But that is what happens when you’re crushing opponents as a means to prove you’re not a dynasty in decline — and that your biggest rival is not a dynasty to come.

The roles used to be reversed, sort of. The Colts used to come into these games with gaudy statistics, while New England, even as a champion, came in with a reputation as a gritty, underrated team that only won games by as much as they had to. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had the persona of doing what it took to win, numbers be damned, while Indianapolis counterpart Peyton Manning was deemed to be, well, the Alex Rodriguez of football. The Colts appeared to be a dynasty in decline before it ever started, and the Patriots seemed to be a dynasty to come — if three Super Bowl titles in five season wasn’t enough to make it a dynasty already.

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Those images didn’t change even after Indianapolis won two straight in the regular season over New England, following the Manning-led Colts losing five straight. After all, those wins were only in the regular season.

While you had a sense the Colts’ come-from-behind 38-34 victory at home last year over New England changed the dynamic — mainly because it was the victory that propelled them toward their first Super Bowl victory of the Manning era — it is only now, as they meet again, you get a sense at how much it really changed.

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This year, it has been the Colts not worrying about numbers, doing just what it takes to win. An odd thing to say about a team outscoring its opponents by more than two touchdowns per game, but for the most part it has called off the dogs when games are decided. The Colts’ favorite play is Jim Sorgi, Manning’s backup, handing the ball off in the fourth quarter, followed by Sorgi taking a knee to end the game. (Yes, Manning has a backup, and the Colts like the way he hands off and kneels so much, they just signed him to a three-year extension.)

Meanwhile, New England is outscoring its opponents by more than three touchdowns per game, and seems dedicated to giving Tom Brady the gaudiest numbers ever gauded, all while making sure its opponents are crushed into dust. In its 52-7 victory over Washington last week, Brady was still in the game throwing in the fourth quarter, while New England’s starting defenders were desperately hoping to cling to a shutout, which Washington averted late in the game.

Before New England wins another Super Bowl, Coach Bill Belichick clearly wants to restore the Patriots’ No. 1 ranking, running up the score as if he’s a college coach trying to impress a poll voter. But more importantly, the LSU-over-Tulane or anybody-over-Notre-Dame-type scores are demoralizing the Patriots’ opponents. The Redskins’ soft play last week belied how they were beaten before they stepped onto the field.