An identity has slowly begun to take shape.
Five games into the season, the Giants defense has been building an identity just in time for Sunday night’s game against the high-powered Bengals at MetLife Stadium.
They’re ranked 11th in the NFL in points allowed and 12th in yards yielded.
Statistically, that’s markedly better than in the past two seasons under former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who came here hyped as an aggressive blitz master and left with his defense having allowed far too many big plays.
identity entering Sunday’s game against the Bengals. Noah K. Murray for the NY Post
The Giants defense ranked 26th in points allowed and 27th in yards allowed last season — and 17th and 25th, respectively, in 2022.
The most important statistic for this Giants defense is points allowed, an average of 20.8 per game. After losing, 28-6, to the Vikings in Week 1, the Giants have yielded 21 points to Washington (on seven field goals), 15 to the Browns, 20 to Dallas and 20 to Seattle.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who replaced Martindale and runs a very different, less risky scheme, is overseeing a unit that leads the NFL with 22 sacks. So, the Giants defense has been disruptive.
“It’s like a pack of wolves out there, everybody trying to get to the football,’’ linebacker Micah McFadden told The Post on Thursday when asked to describe what he sees as the team’s defensive identity. “Make it a race to the football. Who can get there first? It’s just guys going out to hunt.’’
The Giants defense will be depended upon to hunt Bengals on Sunday night because their quarterback, Joe Burrow, is one of the true gunslingers in the league, and he has serious weapons in receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
The Bengals quarterback has completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 1,370 yards, 12 TDs and only two INTs, and has a gaudy 113.6 rating.
“He’s playing at an elite level; he has for a few years now,’’ Bowen said. “It’s been impressive what he’s been able to do up to this point this season. He’s really good at seeing defenses pre-snap, really good at reading them post-snap, getting through his progressions and he has playmakers that he knows can win matchups.
“I’ve had experience in playing him over these past few years and it’s always a challenge with him. The accuracy, the decision making, can put the ball where he wants to put it and has the ability to extend plays with his legs.
“Then,’’ Bowen went on, catching his breath, “you’re dealing with those guys on the outside, Chase and Higgins. And they’re having monster years right now.’’
Chase leads the Bengals with 29 receptions for 493 yards, an average of 17 yards per catch, and has five TD receptions. Higgins, who missed the first two games, has 18 receptions and two TDs. Receiver Andrei Iosivas has three TDs among his 12 receptions. And tight end Mike Gesicki, a terrific pass-catcher, has 17 receptions.
Bowen said Chase “is a problem.’’
“We’ve got to know where he’s at on every snap, be aware of where he’s at on every snap, him and Higgins both,’’ he said.
The word from Bowen and the Giants defensive captain, Bobby Okereke, when asked about the team’s defense, is “progress.’’
“I feel like we’ve been progressing well,’’ Okereke said. “We’ve been getting better every week. What’s the word? Synergistically. We’ve been buying into the scheme, really embracing the way that Shane coaches and calls it, making the scheme come to life.’’
The Giants defense, particularly with edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux on the shelf indefinitely with a wrist injury suffered Sunday in the Seattle game, needs to come to some serious life Sunday night.
The Bengals team the Giants will see will be a desperate, hungry and perhaps angry group. They come to Jersey with a 1-4 record, the opposite of what they expected after entering the season with title hopes.
The four Cincinnati losses have come by a total of 15 points — six to New England, one to Kansas City (which is 5-0), five to Washington (4-1) and three to Baltimore (3-2) last week.
“They’re obviously a team that’s eager to win,’’ McFadden said. “They’ve been in position to win all of their games. So, obviously they’ve been really close … just like us.’’
The game is likely to be close Sunday night, and the Giants (2-3) may need their defense to be the difference if they’re going to get to .500 for the first time since they were 1-1 in September 2023.