The Giants’ most-overhauled unit is set to immediately get one of its biggest tests of the season.
Its success is critical to reversing two of the Giants’ most concerning trends.
They enter their Week 1 matchup against the Cowboys with just one win in the past 12 games with their rivals.
Though they lost by eight points or fewer both times last year, the Giants were shredded by the Cowboys’ dangerous rushing attack.
It represented a season-long struggle for the Giants, who brought in a plethora of new faces this offseason to help solve the issue.
“They’re a team that prides themselves on running the ball,” inside linebacker Bobby Okereke, the team’s most-expensive free-agent signing, told The Post after practice on Tuesday. “They’ve got great offensive linemen, they’ve got great running backs. If we can stop the run, and make them one-dimensional, we’ll set ourselves up for success and hopefully win the game.
“I think since we started in OTAs and started this version of this defense this year, we really put our identity around stopping the run.”
The Giants surrendered 176 and 169 rushing yards, respectively, in their two losses to the Cowboys last year.
Tae Crowder and Austin Calitro started at inside linebacker while Justin Ellis and Nick Williams started next to star Dexter Lawrence on the defensive line in the first matchup.
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Neither Crowder, Calitro nor Ellis are currently on an NFL roster, while Williams is a journeyman.
Just Jaylon Smith started at inside linebacker during the second matchup as the Giants opted to keep an extra defensive back on the field.
Smith couldn’t make the Saints’ roster this summer, and is instead on the practice squad with his NFL career hanging on by a thread.
As a team, the Giants surrendered 5.2 rushing yards per attempt last year, tied for the second-worst mark in the NFL.
“That was last year, man,” Lawrence told The Post. “Our emphasis this whole camp was to stop the run and get better at the run. Now we get to go prove ourselves and go shine on Sunday, and I’m excited for it.”
Along with Okereke, who was voted a team captain, the Giants traded for hybrid linebacker/safety Isaiah Simmons and added veteran defensive linemen A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches in free agency in hopes the new additions can help turn last year’s weakness into a strength.
Though the Cowboys no longer have Ezekiel Elliot, they should still present a formidable rushing attack with Tony Pollard and annually one of the best offensive lines in the league.
“It’s just doing our job,” Robinson told The Post. “Whatever that is that the team asks us to do no matter what it is. … It isn’t just one thing — yes, we need to stop the run, but stopping the run is how you get to the passer. Stopping the run is first, second you get to the passer.
“It’s just doing our job at a high level.”
