NFL

BLUE KIDS ON BLOCK

Tom Coughlin yesterday afternoon called for a meeting with his 11-player Leadership Council, expecting his top lieutenants to deliver a serious message he hopes will be imparted to the entire team as the Giants brace for an unprecedented week of attention in Arizona for Super Bowl XLII.

For the Patriots, this chase of perfection is brand new but undeniably has a familiar ring to it. Twenty-one of their players have Super Bowl experience and their coach, Bill Belichick, has been in so many of these ultimate games he probably needs to number them to keep them straight.

The Giants? Not so much. Three of them have played in a Super Bowl – Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer with the 2000 Giants and Grey Ruegamer with the 2001 Patriots – and Tom Coughlin has been there as an assistant with the Giants but never running the show as a head coach. For the vast majority, this is new terrain, and Coughlin wanted to make sure he and his most trusted veteran leaders were on the same page with how to approach the next 10 days.

“It is a meeting that has to happen, because that has been such an integral part of this whole season, as far as the leadership of the guys,” said punter Jeff Feagles, one of the members of the council. “He’s going to have things to say to us to take to the players, that’s where this has worked so well this season.”

Many around the nation believe the Giants will not be able to compete with the unbeaten and heavily-favored Patriots. The Giants have their own opinion on the subject but do acknowledge most of them are in the dark when it comes to dealing with all things Super Bowl – from the hype before arriving at the site to handling business once they get there to balancing the outrageousness of the event with the importance of the game.

“It’s new to me, it’s new to most guys in this locker room, it’s something we’ll have to adapt to quickly,” guard Chris Snee said. “They certainly have the edge in the experience category, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m not concerned about the guys in this locker room.”

There is no doubt the Patriots realize they have been there, done that and the Giants have not.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with experience,” Belichick said. “I don’t think that’s a negative, but I don’t think it really does anything, either.”

Already, Coughlin has called on Strahan to address the team, and his message centered on the high-speed nature of the week. Following the 2000 season, Strahan recalled the week in Tampa leading up to Super Bowl XXXV flew by so quickly, like a blur, that before he knew it he was on the field, getting trounced by the Ravens.

Coughlin said he spoke yesterday morning about “maybe five or six things” and one theme focused on refraining from producing any fodder for the Pat riots during the endless stretch of media re sponsibilities. The Giants will stage full- blown press availabilities Mon day night upon their arrival, Tues day at the frenzy known as Media Day at the University of Phoenix, and Wednesday and Thursday at their team hotel in Chandler, Ariz.

Even the slightest perceived slight to the opponent next week can erupt into a firestorm, whether real or imagined. Already, Osi Umenyiora in an interview on HBO accused Patriots left tackle Matt Light of some unsavory play in the regular-season finale won by the Pats 38-35. Surely there will be more to follow, sometime, by someone.

“We got a lot of good veterans on this team so I think we have a good understanding sort of what to expect, what to say and what not to say,” linebacker Kawika Mitchell said. “You have to handle yourself. This is the biggest game and you have to handle yourself accordingly.”

The Patriots have been handling this for quite some time, as this will be their fourth Super Bowl in the past seven years.

“That’s fine,” guard Rich Seubert said. “They were there for their first one too sometime. You got to start somewhere, it’s not like all of a sudden boom, you’re in the Super Bowl 10 years. I know there will be a lot of stuff going on when we get down there. We’re down there for one reason and everybody knows what that reason is. Everybody else can have the fun. I told my wife, I told my parents, they can have the fun, I’m going to be working so don’t expect to see me too much.”

paul.schwartz@nypost.com