The Patriots’ Kevin Faulk is overwhelmed by a gang of Giants in last month’s contest. New England defeated New York in that game, 38-35, and are heavy favorites to win again in the Super Bowl. “Being favored only motivates the other team,” says Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

FOXBORO — If there’s any team in the National Football League that knows how it feels to be the underdog, it’s the New England Patriots.

As silly as that sounds — especially since the Pats are one win, one Super Bowl victory away from a perfect 19-0 season — just think back to the 2001-2002 season. New England began that season 0-2 and had a .500 record (5-5) before winning the final six games of the regular season.

In the playoffs, the Patriots beat Oakland in the old Foxboro Stadium in the now famous Snow Bowl before beating the heavily favored Steelers in the AFC Championship Game at Pittsburgh. Ironically, Tom Brady suffered a Grade 2 high-ankle sprain in that game — more serious than his current injury that is being reported as a mild sprain — and was taken out and replaced with Drew Bledsoe.

With only a week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl that season (due to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001) coach Bill Belichick had to decide who would be the QB in New Orleans for Super Bowl XXXVI against the highly favored St. Louis Rams.

Belichick decided to go with Brady, despite his injury, against the “Greatest Show on Turf.” The Patriots beat the Rams on a last-second field goal for a 20-17 win. David had slain Goliath.

Fast forward to the 2007 season and Super Bowl XLII. The New York Giants are this year’s underdog. They finished second in the NFC East with a 10-6 record. Not shockingly, the Patriots, who will be attempting to win their fourth championship in seven seasons, are a double-digit favorite to win. But they are not about to take any team lightly at this point of the season.

New England may be huge favorites to win, but you wouldn’t know it if you asked any of the players.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” said Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas. “Green Bay was favored [in the NFC game]; it doesn’t mean anything. The only thing that matters is when the ball is kicked off and it’s time to play. You make more plays and play good defense. Being favored only motivates the other team.”

When the Patriots won their first Super Bowl, they were playing their best football when it counted most, at the end of the regular season. The Giants have followed a similar blueprint this season and they really do present a challenge to New England.

“In the playoffs you can’t have a lull because it’s the wrong time of the year,” said Thomas. “They’ve done a great job going on the road and winning games. They have the momentum right now and Eli [Manning] is playing great. We definitely have a challenge cut out for us.”

What’s more impressive about the Giants is that they have done it on the road. They’ve won at Tampa Bay, at Dallas and at Lambeau Field in beating the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game.

“I really didn’t know who would be here, because in the playoffs there’s always some kind of twist. But I knew they had a great chance,” said Thomas. “First of all they have a good road record and the way they played at the end of the year, they started to play well at the right time.”

It’s safe to say New York is firing on all cylinders.

“We’ve been there and we’ve had those seasons when we’ve played well. We’ve flashed it and then it goes away for a few weeks,” said Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel. “[The Giants] have played their best ball when they needed to.”

This will be the third time this season that the teams have faced each other, including a preseason game. The most recent was the final regular-season game when New England pulled out a 38-35 win at Giants Stadium.

Patriots’ Richard Seymour was so sure the Giants were the real deal heading into the postseason he made a “friendly” bet with his buddies and picked New York to win each week, calling the Giants road warriors.

“There is a reason why they’re in this game,” he said. “They played in some hostile environments and beat some good football teams. When we played them, they played us hard and played the game the way it’s supposed to be played. But I’m off their bandwagon now.”

The Patriots have become a dynasty in the NFL, one that started when they were considered an underdog. Now that they are on top, at the highest point of the sport, the Giants want to be the ones to dethrone them.

“I can’t even imagine losing,” said Patriots’ Rodney Harrison. “The worst feeling is to walk off that field with confetti coming down on someone else’s head.”

jmcdonal@projo.com