How can the Giants jump-start their struggling pass rush with Brian Burns out for the season?

In training camp, Abdul Carter was asked if the Giants could lead the NFL in sacks, given the strength of their pass-rushing depth. The second-year linebacker was bold but grounded in his expectations.

“Absolutely,” he said in August. “We’ve got to put the work in, though. I don’t want to talk about that. We’re going to be about it.”

Through three games, the Giants haven’t been about it. They have one sack, courtesy of Carter in Week 2. Now they’ll play the rest of the season without their best edge rusher, Brian Burns, who had season-ending knee surgery this week.

Burns had 16 1⁄2 sacks last season. His absence puts more of a burden on not only Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux but also first-year defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson. How can they get more pressure starting Sunday against the Cardinals?

“A lot of it is moving pieces around,” Wilson said. “Trying to get different players in different spots so they can have more success, being able to dent the pocket in the A and B gaps. Those are things that we’re working on and we’re still chasing it.”

The numbers show it’s been an issue for a while. The Giants are 31st in sacks. The Titans’ Cam Ward entered last Sunday’s game having been sacked an NFL-high 60 times since his NFL debut in Week 1 last season, but he wasn’t sacked once.

That is the reason the Giants used their first draft pick in each of the last two seasons to add pass-rushing depth in Carter and Arvell Reese. But it’s not only a sack issue; the Giants simply haven’t made opposing quarterbacks uncomfortable.

According to Sharp Football, an analytics website, the Giants’ pressure rate is a league-worst 19.8%. That’s well behind the Dolphins and Buccaneers, who sit directly above them at 28.0%. As a result, opposing quarterbacks have both the time and the protection needed to make decisions.

It also factors into the Giants’ 30th-place standing in third-down defense. Despite reviving the NASCAR pass-rush package — four pass rushers up front, no defensive linemen — it hasn’t produced since the first game, when the Giants got pressure on the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and forced him into an interception.

“We got to do better. No excuses,” defensive tackle D.J. Reader said. “Just there’s a lot that goes into it.”

Wilson and coach John Harbaugh noted that the Giants’ first three opposing quarterbacks got the ball out quickly against the pass rush. Ward had a faster release than usual even when the Giants flushed him out of the pocket.

Harbaugh said offensive linemen have done well chipping the Giants’ edge rushers by throwing a hard block to get them off balance. That little bit of extra time has helped opposing quarterbacks get the ball out and avoid being sacked.

“We’ve got to find a way to overcome those things,” Harbaugh said. “It’s always a chess game. It’s always kind of an evolution, back and forth. And we’ve got to find our next move.”

So how can the Giants adjust? With Burns sidelined, Carter and Thibodeaux have to pick up the slack. The Giants didn’t trade Thibodeaux at last year’s deadline or during the offseason. Now they look smart for having kept him, and Thibodeaux has a chance to raise his value.

The Giants could deploy Reese more as a rusher. He is coming off his best game as an inside linebacker with 12 tackles. According to NextGenStats, he also hasn’t missed a tackle in his three career games.

Harbaugh and Wilson said the move is under consideration, given that Reese already has been featured in that role for a few downs. Reese said he’s ready if the team asks more of him.

“I already got high standards, so I feel like it’s already a lot on my shoulders,” he said. “So if that’s what comes with it, that’s what comes with it. So I’ll take that on.”

Whatever happens, the Giants need to find more sacks or at least create more pressure on quarterbacks. The Cardinals, though, are tied for the fourth-fewest sacks allowed this season with five.

It could be another long day for the Giants’ pass rush or a chance to reverse their slow start. Reader noted that it’s early for a new defense and added that the team is still trying to figure out what works.

Wilson said the defense showed signs of being great beyond sacks as the Giants held the Titans to 54 yards in the first half. However, the Titans were 5-for-7 on third downs in the second half.

The defense knows sacks need to happen. Carter’s prediction isn’t out of reach, but without Burns, they need players to step up and deliver. At the very least, they can make things uncomfortable for Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett and the next few opponents.

“It’s going to come. Be patient,” Wilson said of the sacks. “And when it comes, it just keeps coming, OK? Just like interceptions, just like takeaways. Once you get one, you start to feed off of it. The guys start to have that feeling, and it will come.”

By Evan Barnes

evan.barnes@newsday.comevan_b

Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.