Which Super Bowl team can hide its flaws the best?

The New York Giants and the New England Patriots have played extremely well in the run-up to Super Bowl XLVI.

New England hasn’t lost a game in almost three months. And since a 24-20 loss to the Giants on Nov. 6, the Pats have put together a 10-game winning streak, averaging 35.9 points per game.

New York has won five straight, averaging 28.2 points per game and allowing 13.4.

But make no mistake about it, both teams are flawed. The important thing is, both teams have been able to improve on their weaknesses in the postseason.

The Giants had the worst rushing offense in the NFL during the regular season, ranking last in rushing yards (89.2) and average gain per run (3.47 yards).

But they have looked like a different team in the postseason.

They piled up a season-high 172 yards on the ground in the wild-card victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Then they had just 95 in the divisional-round upset of the Green Bay Packers and only 85 on the ground in the NFC title game, putting the onus back on quarterback Eli Manning.

“I feel like we can run the ball on anybody, which we haven’t been doing that well this season,” said Brandon Jacobs, who averaged just 3.8 yards per carry in the regular season but has improved to 4.5 in the postseason.

“If we can come out and get that going, that definitely will better our chances.”

Ya think?

The Giants may not find much running room in the middle of the field against Patriots behemoths Vince Wilfork and Kyle Love, who weigh a combined 650 pounds — at least.

“He is an animal in the middle,” Jacobs said of Wilfork. “He clogs the holes. He is a beast. All we can do is try to contain him and run around him.”

During the regular season, the Patriots’ defense wasn’t awful vs. the run (17th in yards and 24th in average gain), but it was last in first downs allowed and next to last in total yards and passing yards allowed.

“What rankings?” Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington asked reporters Tuesday at media day. “It’s postseason. All that stuff goes out the window.

“You can just throw it all out. Accolades, individual awards, records, stats, just throw it out. It’s a fresh start. Basically, anything can happen.”

In this case, Arrington is right. The Patriots have been much better defensively in the postseason, holding the Denver Broncos to 10 points and the Baltimore Ravens to 20 after allowing an average of 23.8 points in the last five games of the regular season.

But that pass defense still doesn’t impress anyone. In the AFC title game, the Patriots allowed Joe Flacco to throw for 306 yards and 2 touchdowns while completing 22 of 36 passes.

A week earlier the Patriots were able to hold Tim Tebow to 9-of-26 passing for 136 yards.

Manning should present a much greater challenge.

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