Giants disruptive pack of wolves creating defensive identity

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.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 see...