NFL

Giants pass rush trio bad in ‘D’ sack

Paging the Giants’ pass rush. You’ll be needed on Sunday in San Francisco. Be there by 1 p.m. Pacific Time and be prepared to be at your best for at least three hours. You can rest on the red-eye flight home.

If the Giants’ pass rush does not answer that call against the 49ers and their potent offense, which trampled the Bills with 621 yards Sunday, here’s a guarantee: The Giants will not be as fortunate as they were in their win over the winless Browns Sunday, when they got away with their spotty defense because they played a bad team.

If you’re a follower of the Giants, you’ve probably been wondering where their “big three’’ pass rushers — Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora — have been hiding this season.

The Giants’ once-dominant pass rush — as big a reason as any for the two Vince Lombardi Trophies they won in the last five years — has been a rumor this season.

The Giants, who recorded the NFL’s second-most sacks in 2011 with 48, enter Sunday’s game against the 49ers with just eight in five games. Only five teams in the league have produced fewer sacks than the Giants, and the combined record of those teams is 8-15.

On Sunday, the Giants’ defense treated Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden like he was wearing one of those red “do-not-touch’’ practice jerseys. Not only was Weeden not sacked in the game, but he was barely touched en route to lighting up the defense for 291 passing yards.

If the Giants allow the same pocket comfort for 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, who has completed 68.6 percent of his passes with eight touchdowns and only one interception, he will hurt them.

Coach Tom Coughlin gasped yesterday when asked if he was “satisfied’’ with his team’s pass rush against the Browns.

“How could we be satisfied? We didn’t touch the passer again,’’ Coughlin said. “We have to look hard at how we can get this thing resolved and get some pressure on the quarterback.’’

Coincidence or not, there was no sign of Tuck, Pierre-Paul or Umenyiora in the locker room yesterday during the media availability period. Whether any or all of them might have passed through for a chat had the Giants produced six or seven sacks against the Browns the day before is up for debate.

What is not up for debate, however, is the lack of production, which has become more pronounced because the pass rush has been such a staple of the Giants’ success.

“Our ends have set the bar so high that they expect a lot out of themselves,’’ defensive tackle Rocky Bernard said. “Teams are always going to try to take away your strengths. When teams come in for meetings on Wednesdays that’s probably the first thing offenses talk about — ‘Hey, these guys have a good defensive line; we’ve got to find a way to control them.’

“But that’s part of the game. Our job is to find a way to counteract that.’’

Pierre-Paul, who became one of the most feared ends in the game with his 16 1/2 sacks last season, has been quiet this season, producing only 1 1/2 sacks so far. At this time last season, he had 6 1/2 sacks.

Umenyiora, who missed the first three games last season and finished with nine sacks, had four at this time last year but has only two this season. And Tuck, who had only four sacks last season, had 1 1/2 at this time last year and has been shut out so far in 2012.

“We have to get back to playing New York Giants football,’’ Giants defensive tackle Chris Canty said. “We haven’t put it together yet. I don’t think our team has played in harmony yet, but when we do it’s something special — as you saw last year.’’

The Giants have no chance to be special without the return of their vaunted pass rush, and that needs to begin Sunday in San Francisco or they’ll fly home on that red eye with a 3-3 record and little idea of the direction their season is headed.