NFL

Strahan challenges Giants to pull off perfect upset of Packers

On the surface, these imperfect Giants look like the perfect foil for The Perfect Quarterback of the Perfect Packers.

Six days after Drew Brees, here comes Aaron Rodgers.

These Giants must be masochists. Because this is their mindset:

Perfect!

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The perfect opponent, the perfect stage, the perfect opportunity to head off their latest second-half collapse and turn their season back around and possibly be a launching pad to the playoffs.

Though they all recognize the urgency of their self-inflicted plight, an old friend showed up yesterday to give the defensive line, the sagging backbone of Big Blue, a booming, passionate and emotional five-minute pep talk.

“You carry the torch. … How this room goes, this team goes,” Michael Strahan told them.

“And that’s how it’s been since he was here, and obviously Lawrence Taylor — linebacker — but still getting after the quarterback … as our spirit goes, the team’s spirit goes, so we gotta make sure that we’re rising up, you know?” Dave Tollefson said.

Strahan was so loud that Mathias Kiwanuka could hear him from the nearby linebackers room.

The Giants’ pass rush (three sacks in three games) has been stuck in quicksand lately and Osi Umenyiora will be out.

They know they better bring their A game against this A-Rod.

“He’s a good quarterback, but he’s not anything that we haven’t faced before,” Kiwanuka said.

He was asked if there is anything Rodgers cannot do, if he has a weakness.

“You can’t throw the ball if you’re on your back,” Kiwanuka said.

Is A-Rod a guy that can be rattled?

“It doesn’t look like it … Do we want to try to rattle him? Yeah, but his confidence is at an all-time high right now,” Tollefson said. “He’s playing better than any quarterback has probably ever played at this point.

“You can’t be looking for the home run. You gotta hit singles against this guy ’cause he’s playing at a high level.”

Strahan’s pep talk before last season’s Bears game resulted in 10 sacks for the Giants and a battered Jay Cutler.

“The records he broke, he did it here,” Kiwanuka said. “A lot of people understand what it means to do great or to do bad things in New York and he gets it. He’s been through every situation that we’re facing, so I think young guys automatically respond to a guy like that.”

Though no one around the Giants dares to stand atop the Empire State Building and shout “Bring on A-Rod,’’ it is not a whisper either inside the Timex Performance Center.

“We’re gonna find out a lot about all of us on Sunday, I know that,” Tollefson said, “if we got the pride and the heart, the determination to make this right.”

The Super Bowl XLII Giants were supposed to have no chance against the Perfect Patriots, remember? Too bad Strahan isn’t playing this time.

The Perfect Quarterback was asked how he is improved from a year ago.

“I’m not missing the throws I should be making, and making better reads, getting in some better situations at the line of scrimmage when I have those opportunities, just being overall a more consistent player in every facet,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers and Perfect Packers coach Mike McCarthy are of one mind the way Bill Walsh and Joe Montana, and Tom Brady and Charlie Weis used to be.

“Aaron gives us the opportunity to be extremely aggressive week in and week out,” McCarthy said. “He can make all the throws, he can hit all the spots around the field, and he does a great job of making plays with his feet, so it’s definitely a nice luxury to have.”

Coughlin noted the Packers have played close games on the road.

“The fact of the matter is three times on the road, they’ve had three close football games, and that’s what we have to cling to,” he said.

“Now it’s a time for us to be bold, not sit back and listen to what all of you are saying, but rather come out fightin’, and that’s the position we’ll take.’’

But there are no medals for trying.

“There are no moral victories at this point,” Tollefson said. “We gotta beat the teams that look like they’re gonna be in the playoffs to get in the playoffs. And if we don’t, we’re not gonna be in there. And we probably don’t deserve to be. We got a chance here to make right out of what’s wrong, and we gotta do it.”

Perfect.

steve.serby@nypost.com