Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, tackling Miami’s Lorenzo Booker last Sunday, says he and his New England teammates are preparing to face the Giants’ best players tomorrow night.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

FOXBORO To borrow a phrase from Bill Belichick — a mantra that both he and Tom Coughlin may have picked up from Bill Parcells — Coughlin will do what is best for his New York Giants football team tomorrow night.

One of the few debates surrounding the regular-season finale between the Giants and Patriots has been whether Coughlin will play his key players for the entire game in an all-out effort to end New England’s bid at an undefeated regular season.

New York clinched its spot in the NFC playoffs with a win over Buffalo, and is locked in as the number-five seed with a first-round date against Tampa Bay regardless of whether they win or lose against New England.

They won’t have a bye and several of their starters have been battling injuries throughout the season.

So for Coughlin, the question is which is more important: making sure your team is as physically ready as possible for the playoffs, or winning a game that’s essentially meaningless for your club?

Were they to upset the Patriots but then lose to Tampa Bay, nothing would be gained for New York, just the distinction of being the team that kept the Pats from an undefeated season. There are those out there who would like nothing more than to see Belichick and New England kept out of the record books, but it is no more the Giants’ responsibility to do that than it was for the Patriots’ first 12 opponents over their first 15 games.

Coughlin has insisted, both with the New York media and New England media via a conference call yesterday, that his team will prepare for this game no differently than it has for the previous 15 this season.

“The only way we know how to do it is to prepare as best we can with the idea of preparation, practice and then performing on Sunday — or Saturday night, in this case,” Coughlin said. “Do the best we possibly can do and give ourselves the best opportunity to win. That’s all we can do.”

But a second look at Coughlin’s comment shows that he simply said “prepare,” not which players he’d be preparing to play.

That’s not to say that quarterback Eli Manning, running backs Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, receiver Plaxico Burress and defensive linemen Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora won’t play at all, as it’s impossible to see Coughlin giving them the week off.

Still, Burress has participated minimally in practice all season due to an ankle injury, and the secondary has been beat up as well. Jacobs and Bradshaw are both on the injury report this week, and New York has had three different players start at running back this year.

In the second half, however, Rhode Island fans might get to see former Brown star Zak DeOssie’s first snaps on defense this season, and big Jared Lorenzen under center.

Tom Brady knows what he’d like to see happen.

“I think definitely Strahan and Osi should take the weekend off. I’d rest them,” Brady joked this week. “I’ll be lobbying for that. Coach Coughlin, if you’re listening, definitely rest those guys.”

Giants players said Wednesday that they’d like to play all 60 minutes, and as one Patriots’ player pointed out yesterday, there are benefits to New York going full-bore in an effort to be sharp for next weekend’s game with the Buccaneers.

As they do each week, New England will prepare to face all 53 men on New York’s active roster.

“I know this: I can’t control how the opponent prepares for us. You can’t,” Tedy Bruschi told the New York media. “They have got our 15 games [on video], they have their game plan, what they think is best to get a victory. I know they are preparing to win the game. But in terms of who they play or how they handle it, it is out of my control. What we are going to in here is prepare like we are going to have their best. I think that is all we can do.”

Besides, if things go well for both the Giants and Patriots this postseason, it won’t be the last time they meet, and the next time — say, Feb. 3 in Glendale, Ariz. — there would be a lot more on the line.

smanza@projo.com