FOXBORO — Richard Seymour has always been a good soldier, so it came as no surprise this week that he shed very little light upon how his injured left elbow fared during his appearance in Monday night’s trouncing of the Minnesota Vikings.

"Aw, I'll be OK," was all the big defensive end said in regard to such a query - and he probably means it.

That's good news as the Patriots prepare to take on the 7-0 Indianapolis Colts on NBC's Sunday Night Football (8:15 p.m.; Ch. 7,10). Even though Seymour was listed as one of the 21 players on the Thursday injury report (as questionable), there's little doubt that he will find his way into combat with Peyton Manning and his mates.

"He does a good job," an understating Seymour said of the NFL's most recognizable quarterback. "It's definitely hard to defend him. He definitely gets the ball off quick and he hits some of his five-step drops look like three-step drops. He gets the ball out quick and he has a rifle for an arm.

"You name it, he can do it," Seymour added. "He checks in and out, he can change the play ... he really does a good job in all aspects, he really doesn't have any weaknesses. He plays well across the board, so defensively, we're going to have our work cut out for us." That may be a case of stating the obvious, but the truth of the matter is that Manning generally delivers the goods regardless of what a team tries to do against them. The Patriots have probably had more success in stopping him than any other team in the league, but even they couldn't keep him in check during last year's regular-season meeting at Gillette Stadium, a 40-21 loss on Nov. 7 in which Manning threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns.

There are some differences in the Colts' offensive unit that took the field last year and the one that will visit the resodded Foamy Field this Sunday. The most obvious is the loss of running back Edgerrin James to the Arizona Cardinals via free agency, but the Colts have managed to maintain a viable rushing attack.

behind Joseph Addai (87 carries, 447 yards) and Dominic Rhodes (95-299, three TDs) to back up Manning's productivity (163 for 245, 1,965 yards, 15 TDs, only two interceptions).

"Year in and year out, they do the same thing," Seymour said. "Obviously they lost Edgerrin James, but the guy they have back there right now, the rookie from LSU (Addai), is doing a good job for them. The offensive line has been solid for them and they have a lot of weapons as far as receivers are concerned, and running backs who catch the ball out of the backfield. So we have a lot of weapons to cover."

Addai doesn't have the ability to get outside that James does, but that doesn't make him ineffective.

"They run a little more inside, just from what we've seen on film," Seymour said. "But they're still who they are, maybe there's not as much stretch, but hey, they could come out and run the stretch play this week. I think, definitely, we'll have to prepare for everything."

Seymour said that because Manning can air it out as well as anyone, the Patriots' defense won't have the luxury of cheating off the coverage to shore up the run defense in case the Colts take that tack.

"Up front we're going to have to do our job because we can't allow an eighth man to come down into the box to stop the run," Seymour said. "We have to do it with the guys inside the box and have those guys cover. Everyone's definitely going to have to do their job this week.

The Patriots totally shut down the Vikings' rushing offense in their 31-7 victory Monday night, but the Vikings don't have Manning or Marvin Harrison (44 catches, 553 yards, three TDs) and Reggie Wayne (38-642, five TDs) stretching the field through the air.

"It's a totally different game plan, it's totally different players," Seymour said. "We can't use the same game plan that we used against Minnesota and think that that's going to beat the Colts. We have to be aware of things that the Colts do, understand the players that they have and play to our strengths, and that's different than last week. "It definitely is going to take everything that we have, all the guys being healthy and being ready to go this week, in order to win this football game," he added. "They're 7-0 and rightfully so, they have a lot of elite players on that football team, they're a well-coached team and they play hard, and I'm sure they'll be excited to come in here at 7-0."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com