Foxboro, Mass. ? The New England Patriots know how dangerous an underdog can be. They used to be one.

Now that the Super Bowl champs finally are favored, they’re not about to underestimate the Kansas City Chiefs today or think Priest Holmes and Tony Gonzalez will be easy to stop.

“We just play the way we do because that’s who we are,” Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. “No matter what role people put us in or no matter what label they tag on us, I think we’re going to play the same.”

As underdogs, they dominated Pittsburgh 30-14 and the New York Jets 44-7 in their first two games. They’ve won 11 straight, including three in the playoffs, but were underdogs in the last five.

A win today would set a regular-season franchise record of nine in a row. They’re more than a touchdown favorite and the Chiefs understand why.

“The Patriots are one complete team,” Kansas City fullback Tony Richardson said. “You don’t win a world championship by accident.”

Kansas City coach Dick Vermeil was so impressed that he wrote a congratulatory note to Patriots coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft after the Super Bowl.

“I respect what other people do in my profession extremely well,” Vermeil said. “It may not have meant a thing, but it meant something to me.”

He wrote to Belichick that the coaching job by the Patriots was the best he’s seen since he joined the NFL in 1969. It’s continued this year with a productive, sometimes tricky offense, and a solid defense.

The Patriots’ 26.5-point average victory margin is the best in the league. They’re tied for first with a plus-4 turnover differential, second in points scored and fourth in fewest yards allowed.

With plenty of new targets Donald Hayes, Deion Branch, Christian Fauria and Cam Cleeland Tom Brady has completed 69.2 percent of his passes for five touchdowns and one interception. He’s been sacked twice.

“We’re favored?” Brady said with a laugh. “Whatever Las Vegas thinks, that’s what Las Vegas thinks, but we have a different feeling.”

It’s a feeling that point spreads and past success mean nothing once the game starts.

The Patriots were 0-2 last year before playing Indianapolis, which had scored 87 points and was 2-0. But New England won 44-13 in Brady’s first pro start.

Belichick stressed that game to his players after the Patriots improved to 2-0 last Sunday.

“We’re winning games by 30 points, the next day he (Belichick) will come in and he’ll show all the highlights of Kansas City,” free safety Lawyer Milloy said. “You kind of sit back and say, ‘OK, this is another good team.’ So he keeps us focused.”

Kansas City (1-1) has 56 points and leads the NFL with 6.7 yards per play. It won its opener 40-39 after Cleveland’s Dwayne Rudd removed his helmet during what should have been the final play, leading to a penalty that set up the winning field goal.

“The thing we try to talk about around here is playing smart football and not have silly penalties like that,” Richardson said.

The Chiefs have committed 14 penalties, five more than their opponents, but they have last year’s NFL rushing leader, Holmes, who already has four touchdowns, and tight end Gonzalez, who has eight catches and two touchdowns.

“He’s really a special player,” Belichick said of Gonzalez. “It’s impossible to match up with him.”

Undoubtedly, the Patriots will find a way with some unorthodox defensive schemes. At times, they use three safeties at once: Milloy, Tebucky Jones and Victor Green. Against the Jets, Jones scored on a fumble recovery and Green on an interception.

The Patriots last played the Chiefs on Dec. 4, 2000, the season after Vermeil coached St. Louis to the NFL championship. Last season, he brought to Kansas City an offense similar to the Rams’ wide-open attack.

“We don’t play them all the time, and we don’t know all the inside tricks of the trade,” New England cornerback Terrell Buckley said.

But that’s hardly enough to make the Patriots underdogs again.

“If you want to find out how far you’ve come, play against the best. It’ll get defined quickly,” Vermeil said. “Right now, they’re the best team in football.”