He talked of it becoming one of the NFL’s top defenses.

He talked of it playing well enough to allow the Colts to be one of the NFL’s top teams.

He talked, too, of people recognizing it as an elite-level group.

So far, so good for the first two, Jackson – the Colts’ third-year cornerback – said this week.

As far as the third?

“I think in a way we still feel like we don’t get as much respect as we should get,” Jackson said as the AFC South Champion Colts (13-3) prepared to play the San Diego Chargers (12-5) in an AFC Divisional Playoff game at the RCA Dome Sunday at 1 p.m.

“We still don’t feel like we’re totally known. We feel like this is another stage to go out there and show what we can do. This is the playoffs. It’s a high level, higher intensity.

“We feel like there’s no better place to go out there and showcase what we’re all about and how we play and what we can do.”

The Colts, after ranking 21st in the NFL in total defense last season, spent last postseason emerging as one of the league’s top units, in the process helping the franchise to its first Super Bowl championship in 36 seasons.

“In the playoffs we started to click,” said safety Bob Sanders, who recently was named the Associated Press’ 2007 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. “This year, it was a goal of starting fast and playing better than we did last year in the playoffs. I think all year we continued to make strides of being the best defense.

“We had young guys out there, but it’s fun actually seeing them progress and getting better and helping us grow.”

In the off-season, the unit lost two starting cornerbacks – Nick Harper and Jason David – as well as a Pro Bowl linebacker, Cato June. It also lost a valued reserve, defensive tackle Montae Reagor.

This season, injuries hit. In a big-time way.

Starting defensive tackle Anthony “Booger” McFarland missed the entire season with a knee injury, and in late September, outside linebacker Rob Morris sustained a season-ending knee injury.

On November 11, defensive end Dwight Freeney – a three-time Pro Bowl selection – sustained a season-ending foot injury.

As a result, the Colts’ current starting lineup features just five players – safeties Bob Sanders and Antoine Bethea, middle linebacker Gary Brackett and defensive linemen Raheem Brock and Robert Mathis – who started for the Colts in the Super Bowl.

Still, the Colts ranked No. 3 in the NFL in total defense, and in points allowed – the defensive statistic Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy said he ranks as the most important – the Colts ranked No. 1. The rankings in those categories are the Colts’ best since the 1984 move to Indianapolis.

“I don’t think most people know that,” Colts safety Antoine Bethea said. “I think people know we’re a fast defense, a physical defense, but as far as the productivity that we bring, I don’t think a lot of people know about that.”

The Colts, despite the loss of Freeney, continued to play well defensively in the second half of the season. With Freeney, the Colts allowed 269.9 yards and 16.3 points per game. In seven games after his injury, they allowed 292.2 yards and 16.1 points a game.

Bethea said despite the regular-season improvement, the defense will approach the postseason as it did last season.

“It’s not really anything you have to do different,” Bethea said. “It’s just the same things we’ve been doing all year and just take it as a regular game. It’s the same deal.

“Nobody’s really talking about Indianapolis, but at the same time, we all like it that way. We’re flying under the radar and then we can go out there and play the type of ball that we know we’re capable of playing.

“We just have to let everybody see how we play on the field.”

Sanders, who said he was pleased with his Player of the Year honor mostly because it brought an improving defense recognition it had lacked, said the playoffs are less about proving anything than winning.

“We only can continue to get better and that’s all we can control,” Sanders said. “That’s all we worry about, is us getting better. We feel like we have no pressure on us at all. We’re trying to prove something to ourselves. We come into each year with our goals high and we strive to get better. We put pressure on ourselves to go in and make a lot of plays and it’s good when you go.”

And if by proving something to themselves, they prove something to others, too, Jackson said that will be fine, too.

“Nobody talks about the Colts,” Jackson said. “If you look at the TV right now, there’s no talk about us. We look at that, and it definitely is motivation to go out and show everybody what we really can do.

“We have the confidence in ourselves in the defense and as players that we’re going to go out there and play well. We’re all very excited. We’re watching tape and have a good feeling about what’s going to go on and what we’re going to do.”