FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Before the bye week, the New England Patriots got a chance to prove their mettle as a home underdog against Peyton Manning’s Denver Broncos. The 43-21 dismissal of Denver sent coach Bill Belichick’s team (7-2) into the off week with a five-game winning streak and the unofficial top team in NFL power rankings everywhere.

After some self-scouting and R&R, the Patriots get a chance to keep the momentum rolling against the guy who took over for Manning with the Colts, traveling to Indianapolis as an underdog to take on Andrew Luck and his passing prowess.

Luck has 3,085 yards and 26 touchdowns in nine games. Though his arsenal of targets isn’t quite as well-known or talented as Manning’s, the Colts have a playmaker in T.Y. Hilton, a respected veteran in Reggie Wayne and a couple tight ends to lean on. Luck has six different targets with two or more touchdown catches.

It’s another challenge for a new-look New England pass defense that has plenty of confidence that it’s up to the task at hand each week. Though the group allowed Manning to toss for 438 yards in the blowout loss, Darrelle Revis and Co. are comfortable with the way they’ve matched up with opposing attacks to date.

“We’ve been doing good. I don’t know all the stats. I don’t really even look at them,” Revis said, not even aware the team hadn’t allowed a single 40-yard play until the Broncos game. “We just try to do what coaches ask us to do. We’ve been doing a fairly good job. We just have to continue to keep pushing at it, keep on working at it and eventually there is room for us to get better as the season gets down the road.”

The trip to Indianapolis is a chance to prove that. Clearly the Colts can move the ball through the air. Clearly they’re going to meet up with a Patriots secondary that has brought a physical approach with Revis and fellow first-year New Englander Brandon Browner in the lineup.

“That word gets floated around a lot, to have swagger. I don’t know what to call it,” Revis acknowledged. “We come to do our job. We play hard-nosed football. And we play aggressive. That’s what we want to showcase out there every time we have a chance to go out there and play.”

At times this season that aggressive, physical style has led to a flurry of flags on Browner and the rest of the secondary. But even in this era with a point of emphasis on illegal contact and holding in the secondary, New England isn’t going to be shy in the back end.

“We have to play. We’re still going to play aggressive,” Revis said, regardless of what the officials are calling. “We’re still going to be in your face. And we’re still going to jam you and do the things that we do. Because we feel that being physical brings us success.”

It certainly brought success against Manning and the Broncos, allowing the Patriots to pull off the upset. Two weeks later, the battle is against Manning’s replacement in Indianapolis. Luck is one of the premier passers in the game with an offense that has scored 30 or more points in three of the last four games.

“Extremely intelligent quarterback, it’s a huge challenge for us,” Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia concluded of Luck and the Colts.

REPORT CARD AT THE BYE

PASSING OFFENSE: B – While the Patriots’ passing game has been dominant in the last five games, things weren’t quite as perfect through the first month of the season. Early on, QB Tom Brady was under too much pressure — sacked nine times in the first four games — and his weapons were just not working in a complementary fashion. A new-look offensive line struggled until the likes of guards Jordan Devey and Marcus Cannon were pulled from the lineup after three games, with rookie center Bryan Stork and veteran guard Ryan Wendell serving as solidifying forces. Julian Edelman was the only consistent option through the first month of .500 football as Rob Gronkowski worked back from a torn ACL that cost him the entire preseason and veteran free-agent addition Brandon LaFell built a rapport with Brady. While Brady has two single-game ratings below 70 in the first four games, he has topped 97 in each of the last five, throwing 18 touchdowns and one interception. For the year, he’s completing 64 percent of his passes and has a 103.5 rating. Not bad for a 37-year-old who some thought had declining skills. Edelman leads the Patriots through nine games with 54 catches for 554 yards and two touchdowns. But Gronkowski’s healthy surge made him the centerpiece of the passing attack in the last month, leading to 49 total catches for 663 yards and a team-best eight touchdown receptions. LaFell has chipped in with 36 catches for 514 yards and five scores, already setting a career best in touchdowns and well on his way to doing the same in catches and yards. Though the first month was a challenge, New England’s passing attack hit its bye as one of the most dangerous aerial attacks in the game, which is pretty much what’s expected of Brady and his targets each season.

RUSHING OFFENSE: C – The Patriots’ rushing attack has always played second fiddle to the passing game and been a committee approach in New England. That’s even more the case this season as veteran LeGarrette Blount left via free agency last spring while lead back Stevan Ridley landed on IR with a torn ACL in Week 6 in Buffalo. Working behind an inconsistent, work-in-progress offensive line, New England has averaged just 3.6 yards a carry through nine games. Ridley had a pair of 100-yard games in the first six weeks, but three others are averaging worse than three yards a carry. Practice-squad call-up Jonas Gray has taken over the big-back role since Ridley went down, including an 86-yard effort against the Bears. But the running game has been little more than an at-best complementary factor the last month-plus. New England hit the bye with the league’s 19th-ranked rushing attack, and getting much more than that moving forward would seem unlikely. Finding a line combo that works has helped the passing game and could lead to a bit more consistency on the ground. But with no really experienced ball carriers to lean on, the rushing attack is unlikely to be anything more than the mediocre, middling group it was to open the year.

PASS DEFENSE: B-minus – The expectations for the pass defense in New England for 2014 were quite high after the team added free agents Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner. While it hasn’t been perfect, the group certainly has had its impressive performances and continues to show the potential to be the best secondary New England has had in nearly a decade. Revis has been very good, seeing time both in his preferred matchup man and zone coverages. He leads the team with two interceptions and has improved as he has gotten more comfortable. Browner missed the first four weeks to an NFL suspension. In three games played, he has shown a uniquely physical style that’s of value against bigger receivers but also has drawn seven flags in his short time on the field. The Patriots have gotten surprisingly solid play from veteran safety Patrick Chung, in his second tour with the team, while Devin McCourty has continued to be a solid player in the back end even if he doesn’t make many plays. Working without much of a pass rush for much of the first nine weeks — Chandler Jones has missed the last two games with a hip injury but leads the team with 4 1/2 sacks — the pass defense has held opposing passers to a combined 85.7 rating for the season. The pass defense took full advantage of 10 interceptions and has shown depth to deploy five or six cornerbacks in a variety of schemes. In a pass-happy league, the Patriots’ pass defense has been more than competitive and could be better during the second half.

RUSH DEFENSE: C – The Patriots cut Tommy Kelly in August. Defensive tackle Sealver Siliga, the only real run stuffer behind Vince Wilfork, has been sidelined with a foot injury. Middle linebacker Jerod Mayo landed on IR with a torn patella. As such, the Patriots’ run defense has been very shaky against teams with proven attacks. Overall, the unit has allowed 4.4 yards per attempt on the season and ranked 23rd in rushing yards allowed at the bye week. Teams have found too much room too often to run both inside and on the edges, taking advantage of undersized ends Jones and Rob Ninkovich at times. The group allowed the opposition to top 150 yards on the ground four times in the first nine games, including 200-plus to the Chiefs and Jets. Beyond dealing with personnel issues and injuries on the front, the tackling and technique have been very poor at times as well. New England has tried to play three-man fronts on occasion and that unit, in particular, gave up chunk runs. Siliga’s return and the addition of Alan Branch as well as linebacker Akeem Ayers could help the front improve in the coming weeks, but the run defense appears that it will be a make-due unit for the season. Some weeks will be good enough, but some weeks against higher competition will be a struggle. That certainly was the case during the first half of the year.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A-minus – The kicking game has been by far the most consistent, productive of the three phases through the first two-plus months. Aside from a blocked punt on opening day and an occasional bad penalty or snap, the unit has been solid throughout. Stephen Gostkowski has hit 24 of his 25 field-goal attempts and would likely be perfect at this point were it not for a bad snap by Danny Aiken. His kickoffs have been solid for the most part. The kickoff return game remains a weakness here, as it has been for the most part for the last few years save for a burst from Blount late last season. New England averages a mere 22.9 per kickoff return as Chung and Danny Amendola have been pedestrian, although the latter has shown minor burst in his limited chances of late. Edelman remains one of the better punt returners in the game, hitting the bye with a 13.9-yard average, including an 84-yard touchdown, ranking third in the NFL at the bye. Ryan Allen’s punting has been just OK in his second season, with his 38.7 net ranking in the bottom half of the league. Matthew Slater is proving himself a Pro Bowl-caliber weapon in coverage yet again, and veteran addition Don Jones has also been very impressive getting downfield and making tackles. It hasn’t been perfect and certainly there is room for improvement, but the Patriots have won the battle of the kicking game just about every time out in 2014, including a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by Chandler Jones and a block of a Jets game-winning field goal attempt by Chris Jones.

COACHING: B – There have been plenty of decisions to question from the New England coaching staff this fall. Not surprisingly, most came before the team’s recent five-game winning streak. Bill Belichick, the coach and GM, cutting Kelly in camp and trading Logan Mankins remain moves that clearly made the team worse from a talent perspective. Deciding to open the season with Cannon and Devey at guard, the former a career tackle and the latter a totally unproven former practice squadder, led to terrible offensive line play through the first month. Defensively, there was too much 3-4 for a team that lacks the talent up front to play the scheme. There was also too much zone coverage, failing to take full advantage of what the future Hall of Famer Revis brings to the field. But there have been plenty of good decisions and impressive game plans, obviously, on the way to the 7-2 record at the bye. The flooded zones worked very well on defense against the Bears and Broncos. The secondary’s limiting of opponents to one 40-yard play through nine games is thanks to a focus on keeping everything in front. Offensively, work to get LaFell and Tim Wright involved with the offense has paid off. It’s not uncommon for the Patriots to be a bit less impressive early in the season as Belichick gets a feel for his team, his talent and what the competition will offer in any given season. That’s clearly been the case in 2014, but overall Belichick and his staff have pushed the right buttons more and more frequently for a team that has gotten better as the weeks have worn on.