FOXBOROUGH, Mass. --- Tom Brady looked into the TV cameras, smiled and gave some advice to the coach whose defense leads the NFL in throwing quarterbacks to the ground.

As a matter of self-preservation, Brady would rather not see Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck charging at him. Besides, the Giants might as well rest their top players because they're locked into their first-round playoff game anyway.

So Brady stood at his locker and delivered his message: "Coach (Tom) Coughlin, if you're listening, definitely rest those guys."

The answer will come Saturday night when the New England Patriots can become the first team to finish a regular season 16-0 when they play at New York.

"Well," said left tackle Matt Light, charged with protecting Brady's blind side, "maybe they'll take his advice."

Coughlin and Patriots coach Bill Belichick haven't tipped their hands about how much their regulars will play. New England can't change its playoff status either; it has home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

But it can make history with the undefeated record, an issue the players have avoided. Now that they need just one more win, the subject is no longer taboo.

"I think we all realize what a win would mean, but a win's always big," said Brady, who needs two touchdown passes to break Peyton Manning's single-season NFL record of 49 set in 2004. "Being 16-0 would be a very special achievement, one that no other team has ever achieved and we're finally at that point."