Maxi Lopez scored on his Sampdoria return to give t

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The Patriots streak of 11 post-season games as a favourite is over. For the first time since the AFC championship game against Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in 2007, New England is a playoff underdog — against Manning and the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game on Sunday. Tom Brady & Co. are willing to use that as motivation for the game that will send the winner to the Super Bowl. "We play with a chip on our shoulder," wide receiver Danny Amendola said. "We like to play that way." Count the Patriots out? Go right ahead, fullback James Develin said. "I cant really speak for everyone, but I personally love the underdog story," he said. "It just kind of keeps a little bit of the pressure off you and I just like to prove the doubters wrong." Brady sounded the first "woe is us" note during his weekly appearance on WEEI radio Monday. "I know when we played Baltimore nobody picked us to win," Brady said. "Im sure no ones going to pick us to win this week. Weve had our backs against the wall for a while. Really, the whole season weve lost players, and teams have really counted us out. "Weve got a bunch of underdogs on our team, and well be an underdog again." The Ravens were favoured to extend their four-game winning streak in the next to last game of the regular season. Baltimore was at home, but the Patriots won 41-7. Now New England (13-4) is preparing to go on the road again. And Bradys teammates figure if playing the underdog card against Denver (14-3) is good enough for him, its good enough for them. "If Toms going to embrace it, Im going to embrace it," New England running back LeGarrette Blount said with a smile. "Thats the leader of this team, and if thats how he feels, Im sure thats how most of the guys out here feel." In that loss to the Colts seven years ago, the Patriots held an 18-point lead late in the first half but lost 38-34. Indianapolis went on to win the Super Bowl. That also was the Patriots most recent playoff road game. Since then, theyre 7-2 at home and 0-2 in Super Bowls at neutral sites. This season, they were underdogs at home against Denver on Nov. 24, but won 34-31 in overtime after trailing 24-0 at halftime. Broncos tight end Julius Thomas missed that game with a knee injury. Now hes back, one of five Denver receivers with at least 60 catches this season. "Hes a heck of a football player, a playmaker, go-to guy for them," Patriots safety Steve Gregory said. "He can create mismatches and things like that, so hes a good football player. But they have a lot of good football players." The 250-pound Blount creates mismatches as well — able to elude big linemen and run over small defensive backs. He ran for 166 yards and four touchdowns in Saturday nights 43-22 win over Indianapolis after rushing for 189 yards and two touchdowns in the previous game, a 34-20 win over Buffalo in the regular-season finale. "I can do a lot of improving," Blount said after watching video of the Indianapolis game. "Ive seen a couple of holes I could have hit, and Ive seen a couple of cuts I could have made. Im going to go out there and look at what theyre going to give me, and hopefully explode somewhere." Blount got off to a slow start this season, his first with the Patriots. It would be dangerous to underestimate him now, just as the Broncos would be unwise to put too much stock into their status as favourites. After all, Brady fooled all those teams that bypassed him in the 2000 draft until the Patriots took him in the sixth round with the 199th overall pick. "He came into the league as a big underdog," Develin said, "so Im sure hes used to that." 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I used to be a perfectionist, but my attitude now is to play like Im in the pro-am. GENOA, Italy -- Maxi Lopez scored on his Sampdoria return to give the team a 1-0 victory at bitter rival Genoa in the derby della lanterna on Monday. Lopez is in his second loan spell at Sampdoria and he took less than 24 minutes to mark his debut with a goal. The Argentine played a one-two with Eder before lifting the ball over Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin. "Its a new fantastic debut," Lopez said. "I couldnt ask for more. This is a reward for the hard work of the squad and a present for the fans who were at the stadium tonight. "Im happy with the goal, Ive reeturned home.dddddddddddd I have to thank the club for the faith theyve shown in me, I needed consistency and to be back at the top level." Genoa twice had the ball in the back of the net but Luca Antonellis effort four minutes from halftime and Moussa Konates 65th-minute strike were both ruled out for offside. The match was originally scheduled to take place Sunday night but was postponed for security reasons, with the regions biggest market taking place at the same time near the stadium. Sampdoria moved into 13th place in the table, two points behind Genoa. ' ' '