James Harrison's immediate goals are simple: win a Super Bowl with the Patriots next Sunday against the Eagles. After that, however, the pass rusher has no plans to call it a career, even though he'll be 40 years old on May 4.

"I maybe want to play a year at 40, maybe 41," Harrison told ESPN.com's Mike Reiss this week.

The reason Harrison asked the Steelers to release him in December was because he didn't return this season to be a 39-year-old cheerleader; he wanted to play. So after only seeing 40 snaps with Pittsburgh, Harrison has played 86 snaps in this three games with the Patriots, including the inevitable strip sack that sealed New England's Conference Championship win over the Jaguars last Sunday:

So when might Harrison, who came into the league in 2002, think about calling it a career?

"[A]t some point in time, I'm going to have to stop [playing]," he said. "I told my son [James III] he could play contact football when I stop, so I'm going to have to give it up in the near future, so he can start getting adjusted to playing. I don't want him to wait too long.

"He's already 10, and then he'll be playing against kids who have been doing it for 4 or 5 years, contact football, and they'll know how to take a hit and give a hit. To have a kid come into high school, or even be 14, 15 years old and have been playing since they were 10, that puts him at a disadvantage, especially just safety-wise."

Whether Harrison will join Tom Brady in the 40-and-over club in New England remains to be seen; the linebacker signed a one-year deal in December and will be a free agent after the season. Still, he's shown he can still rush the passer, which means there should be a market for his services, even if on a limited basis.