The Jaguars are favored by a field goal over the Patriots today in Jacksonville.

Terrific.

Too bad it isn't more.

The Patriots, on the brink of a club-record, fourth-straight, AFC East title, and winners of three of the last five Super Bowls, are 3-point underdogs to a team that's lost twice this season to the Houston Texans -- the same Houston Texans the Patriots trounced last Sunday in Foxboro, 40-7.

You guys aren't that good, the oddsmakers in Las Vegas are telling the team from New England.

That's great.

Because now the Pats have the Jags just where they want 'em. The Patriots are in what is, for them, perfect position: They're being disrespected.

Which is just dandy.

Everybody in New England should be happy that the Patriots are unhappy.

Things are looking up for the Pats and their fans whenever the team is put down.

When the New England 11 has its collective nose out of joint, there's a very good chance that the Pats' opponents will wind up with bloodied noses.

That's because the Patriots are at their best when they believe people think the worst of them.

The Pats hate being dissed. But, in a way, they love it, too. It upsets them. But it also fires them up.

Such put-downs put the Pats in an "us-against-world, we'll-show-you" state of mind that has been shown to turn them into world-beaters.

They've even been known to try to create that mind-set, to purposely put themselves in that predicament -- even when the reality of the situation is very different.

Surely you remember Rodney Harrison proclaiming, after the Patriots' Super Bowl victories over Carolina and Philadelphia, that "nobody thought" New England could do it.

The fact that the Patriots were favored in both those games -- that they were, in fact, expected to win -- did not fit the fiery Harrison's motivational mantra.

No matter. Even if the underdog theme didn't ring true outside the New England locker room, it helped the Patriots pick up a couple more championship rings.

And the fact of the matter today is that, in this case, it is true -- the 10-4 Patriots are 3-point underdogs to the 8-6 Jaguars, who lost last week at Tennessee.

Wonderful.

What's even better is that it's not only the point-spread, favoring Jacksonville, that is working in the Patriots' favor. There's also the recent Pro Bowl balloting.

Only one Patriots player -- defensive lineman Richard Seymour -- was voted to the Pro Bowl. There were nine -- nine! -- San Diego Chargers selected, and only one Patriot. Five Indianapolis Colts were chosen, five Baltimore Ravens, four Kansas City Chiefs, three Broncos, three Bengals, two apiece from Buffalo and Miami, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Oops, sorry, got the Christmas season intermingled there with the football season.

The Bears, who already have locked up the top seed in the NFC -- even after losing last month at New England, 17-13 -- had seven players chosen. Even teams such as Arizona, Green Bay, St. Louis and San Francisco had two each.

But the Patriots only had one.

And there are some people saying that Seymour doesn't really deserve to go. That if any New England defensive lineman should be heading for Honolulu it should be Ty Warren.

Good. Great. Excellent.

That means Seymour will be in a foul mood, more determined than ever to prove he deserves to be honored with a Pro Bowl berth. Warren, on the other hand, may be even more motivated to prove his credentials.

And how about Tom Brady?

Brady's not a Pro Bowler. That's a technically accurate statement, but it feels as if it should end with a question mark, as in: Brady's not a Pro Bowler?

The guy's a two-time Super Bowl MVP, but he's not a Pro Bowler? Well, not this year, he's not. He's a future Hall of Famer, a virtual lock to be heading to Canton after retirement. But he won't be heading to Hawaii after this season?

It's hard to quibble with Colts QB Peyton Manning as the Pro Bowl starter for the AFC. But Carson Palmer and David Rivers as backups? Yes, they've had very good years -- it's remarkable how Palmer has bounced back from a career-threatening knee injury suffered in the playoffs last season -- and they're both fine, young quarterbacks, but if there was a championship game to be played, would any player in the league choose one of those two guys over Brady?

Brady insists such slights don't bother him.

"How much does it matter? It matters very, very, very little," he said, after learning he'd been bypassed for the Pro Bowl following back-to-back, postseason trips to Hawaii.

"You're judged in this game on Super Bowls, not Pro Bowls," he said. "You don't work out every day in the summer to try to go to a Pro Bowl. You try to go to the Super Bowl. Guys on this team, what we're concerned about is winning the championship."

The Patriots can win a fourth straight AFC title if they "upset" the Jaguars this afternoon.

Too bad the Jags aren't favored by seven. That would make the Patriots' chances of winning that much better.

jdonalds@projo.com / (401) 277-7340