Colts can prove mettle with win over Patriots

They may be 7-0 and the apparent class of the league, but until the Indianapolis Colts can beat a certain three-time champion, they will remain also-rans.

When they face the New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., Monday night, the Colts will attempt to end four years of failure against the three-time Super Bowl champions. It will be the Colts' chance to unofficially dethrone the Patriots and prove they are worthy of being called the Super Bowl favorites.

This is their defining game — the one that will prove whether the Colts are finally capable of winning a championship.

"The Patriots have been a very, very good team," Colts coach Tony Dungy told local reporters. "The last four years they have been the dominant team in the league, and a lot of people are chasing them, including us."

The Patriots have been the Colts' antagonists recently, winning the last six games and knocking the Colts out of the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.

In the divisional playoffs last season, the Patriots shut down Peyton Manning's offensive juggernaut with a 20-3 victory in a blustery, sleet-slammed game at Gillette Stadium.

In the AFC title game after the 2003 season, the Patriots sacked Manning four times and intercepted four of his passes in a 24-14 victory.

The Patriots finished each season as the Super Bowl champions. And while the Patriots have struggled to a 4-3 record this season, the Colts know the symbolic importance of this game.

"This is why you play in the NFL, to be in games like this," Manning said. "I'm just excited that we're playing good football right now. We've put ourselves in a position where this game is attracting a lot of attention; but at the same time, all of that's going to be over with once kickoff starts. But these are fun games to play in, no question about it.

"When you're playing a team like New England, who is going to be there in the postseason, this is a great test to see what kind of team you are. When you play against a good team, you sort of see where you stack up."

The Colts seem to stack up a little better this season because of their defense. That unit is ranked fourth in the league — the highest it has been when the Colts have played the Patriots the past three seasons.

The Colts lead the league with 26 sacks — eight by Robert Mathis, who has a sack in a team-record seven straight games, and six by Dwight Freeney.

Linebacker Cato June is second in the league with five interceptions — three short of the NFL season record for a linebacker.

The Patriots have been hindered by injuries, so this would seem to be the perfect chance for the Colts, who also have the advantage of coming off a bye, to finally beat them.

To do so, they will have to overcome the Patriots' 26-4 record at Gillette Stadium, including three straight wins over the Colts.

"In the years I have played the Patriots, we haven't beaten them," Dungy said. "But not that many other people have beaten them either. I think we have had a team that is good enough, but we just haven't done it."

If they do it this time, the Colts will become the 24th team in league history to start 8-0. But Dungy does not want his team to feel any pressure.

"If we win the game, it certainly doesn't put you in the playoffs or do anything like that," Dungy said. "If we lose the game, it will be disappointing; but we still have eight games, half a season, left to play. You do want to approach it that it is not a playoff game, not a do-or-die game."

But Manning knows it will measure the mettle of his team.

"We've always had good teams around here for the past few years," he said. "All we are is off to a good start. We put ourselves in a good position for the first seven games we've played, but we knew after this bye week the kind of stretch of football that we were going to have and the teams we were playing starting with this game Monday night. So, this will really tell the tale what kind of team we are, what kind of team we have, starting on Monday. Hopefully we can start this, really the second half of the season, on a good note."

Chris Cluff: 206-464-8787 or ccluff@seattletimes.com