The nation will need an insulin injection by 6 p.m. Sunday, after a week of sugary excess.

All hail the perfect team!

All hail the perfect quarterback!

All hail the greatest achievement ever in team sports!

All hail New England’s admittance to the pantheon of competitive immortality!

But everyone should wipe away the drool and realize there’s another team playing in the Super Bowl – a team that, in some respects, has attained a level of success that’s comparable to what the Patriots have done.

The New York Giants have won 10 straight road games, including three in the playoffs. More than half of the Giants’ victories came on the road.

That’s as mindboggling as 18-0.

How is it possible that a team could sink to 3-5 at the Meadowlands before its own supportive – well, reasonably supportive – fans, yet still advance to the Super Bowl?

It’s because the Giants have as much audacity as the Patriots. It is daring that has gotten both teams to this historic juncture. Both are testaments to the limitless possibilities of league parity, and that’s why what the Giants have done chips away a little from what the Patriots are doing.

But you won’t hear much about these road warriors in the coming days. The Giants will be dismissed as an example of NFC inferiority.

The Patriots have been a blessing for the NFL and have significantly moved the TV ratings needle this season. The Pats have pushed normally disaffected fans into firmly taking sides for or against their push toward perfection. And in Tom Brady they have a paparazzi magnet who doubles as the best big-game quarterback since Joe Montana.

The NFL wants the mythology that comes with the drive for perfection, and the Patriots have cooperated by taking all the necessary risks.

They didn’t unearth a secret formula that eluded the other teams that previously went into the second half unbeaten. Instead they constantly pushed themselves to a maximum level in relatively meaningless late regular season, accepting the risk of losing key players to injury that could’ve cost them dearly in the playoffs.

New England coach Bill Belichick and Brady embraced that risk.

History’s task now will be determining if that makes them truly special or merely fortunate. The Patriots’ legacy is whether they’ll inspire the next 12-0 team to keep the accelerator floored.

But the Giants are as much a part of that equation. Don’t forget that head coach Tom Coughlin played his starters the entire game in a classic, regular-season finale against New England when they already had clinched a wild-card berth. It served as the impetus for their unlikely playoff run.

The Giants and Patriots are more connected spiritually than you might think, yet there’s a huge statistical disparity between the teams. According to Cold, Hard Football Facts, the regular-season victory differential between the 16-0 Patriots and 10-6 Giants is the largest ever in a conference or league championship game. The Patriots’ 315-point offensive differential is the greatest ever between championship game opponents. The Patriots’ average victory margin this season was just south of 20 points a game. The Giants’ victory margin was just north of one point a game.

Will there be a great finish to a great season?

The Giants can ask that question as properly as the Patriots can.