Super showdown: Pats vs. Giants

Perfection for the Patriots or one Giant upset: a Super showdown is set.

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will try to complete an unbeaten season Feb. 3 against the New York Giants in the Super Bowl at Glendale, Ariz.

“We’ll try to elevate our game for one last performance,” said Brady, the dimple-chinned, record-setting quarterback with the model girlfriend.

New England (18-0) will attempt to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only teams to complete an undefeated season. Standing in the Patriots’ way are the road-warrior Giants (13-6) and Eli Manning – Peyton’s little brother, whose moxie and leadership abilities no longer can be questioned.

“We haven’t been given a shot,” Manning said of his Giants, who have won 10 straight on the road. “But we’re here, and I think we’re deserving of it.”

Las Vegas oddsmakers might think differently. They installed New England as a 14-point favorite in the big game, in which New York will get another shot at destroying the Patriots’ path to perfection.

New England won 38-35 in its final game of the regular season, rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit.

“That got us going, momentum,” Manning said.

At least neither team will have to worry about a frigid forecast in Arizona. On Sunday, New England beat San Diego 21-12 in 23-degree temperatures in the AFC championship at Foxborough, Mass., while New York edged Green Bay 23-20 in overtime in subzero conditions in the NFC title game at Lambeau Field.

“Now we’re going to someplace warm because I’m freezing my you-know-what off,” Brady said, flashing that familiar grin.

Brady and the Patriots will be well-thawed by the time they play in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in seven years. A win in this one would rank the Patriots as perhaps the greatest champion in NFL history – Spygate a long-forgotten speedbump.

In that scandal, the Patriots were fined $250,000 and Belichick $500,000 for violating league rules by training a sideline camera on Jets coaches in their season-opening win. The Pats stood by their coach.

“I think there’s special guys on this team that have stepped all year when they needed to,” Brady said.