Last modified: Thursday, December 27, 2007 12:24 AM EST Rodney Harrison (Staff photo by KEITH NORDSTROM) Harrison, Pats prep for Giants BY MARK FARINELLA SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - Rodney Harrison's friends and family know the drill. Call the Harrison home, and you can talk about any topic but one. That banned subject returns you to the dial tone quickly. "I hang up on 'em, as I said last week," the Patriots' veteran safety said Wednesday. "My family knows not to say anything about an undefeated season or anything like that, or I will hang up on them. It's pretty easy for me. When I go home, my wife … she's telling me to clean up the kitchen or take the garbage out." All talk about the significance of a 16-0 regular season, which can be secured Saturday night (8:15 p.m.; NFL Network and several local channels) with a win over the New York Giants at Giants Stadium, is verboten within the confines of Gillette Stadium this week. Once again, the Patriots have embraced their time-honored tradition of treating every game as an entity unto itself. "We're just looking ahead to Saturday night," he said. "That's all. We don't have any control over what happens after Saturday night. We're just concerned about that. You have a great opportunity to go out there and just finalize things, and go out there and put a good performance together … which we haven't done in all three phases in quite a while." Amid all the talk about the "perfect season" - which really can't be achieved until the Patriots reach 19-0 - Harrison said it's more important for them to pursue the even-more-elusive "perfect game." "You have to," he said. "You'll never get to a perfect game, but you have to continually seek to get there. We haven't been there, we need to … like this past game, we played well in the first half, and in the second half, we came out and laid an egg. So we have to play more consistently across the board." Harrison said that under normal circumstances, the Giants (10-5) would pose a formidable challenge with their rugged offensive line, powerful running game and a pair of proven receivers. "No question, it's probably one of the best offensive lines we've faced," he said. "They have receivers that want to block you in the run game, as well as three backs that can just get downhill and create some confusion down there. "They're so big and so physical, you start with big (Brandon) Jacobs - 6-4, 270, can run a 4.4 40 (-yard dash) - and you're seeing guys on film that really don't want to tackle him," Harrison said. "It's definitely a challenge with that, and also in the passing game with Plaxico (Burress) and Amani Toomer." However, reports out of the Big Apple suggest that with no change possible in the Giants' playoff seeding - they are locked into a game at Tampa Bay in the first round of the NFC playoffs, and don't have a first-round bye as the Patriots will - Tom Coughlin may choose to rest some or all of his starters. "I am not going to be quoted on any of that at this point in time," Coughlin told the New York media earlier in the week. "It's kind of a difficult thing for me to even talk about, because we want to win every game. We want to win every game, and we want our players to be as sharp as they can. But that having been said, I am aware of the fact that all the things you talk about are true - we cannot improve our lot, et cetera. I won't be really painted into the corner on any of those things." Harrison said the Patriots would take what comes their way and ask no questions. "As hard as we work and as hard as we prepare, we don't control who they put on the field," he said. "We control what we do and how we execute and how we prepare. Yeah, it counts … a 'W' is a 'W' in the National Football League, and they're so hard to come by." Even if the Giants don't put the A-listers on the field Saturday night, Harrison said it's not in the Patriots' nature to take anyone lightly or to look beyond them into the playoffs - even with history beckoning. "I just think the focus of the guys in this locker room is to understand you can't look too far ahead and you have to stay focused on the game at hand," he said. "Because if you start looking ahead of someone, that clearly shows disrespect to that team." MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com