In the first quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Giants defensive tackle Fred Robbins jumped across the line of scrimmage before the ball was snapped and plowed into quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.Giants coach Tom Coughlin was angry that Robbins was flagged for both offside and unnecessary roughness penalties, but he would have been even angrier had he known that Robbins’s shot would be the best the Giants got at Hasselbeck all day.

An inability to pressure opposing quarterbacks has plagued the Giants this season. That’s a surprise because defensive ends Michael Strahan (11.5 sacks) and Osi Umenyiora (14.5 sacks) both made the Pro Bowl a year ago, and the Giants front office thought the pass rush would be even better this year, what with the addition of defensive end Matthias Kiwanuka, a first-round draft pick, and linebacker LaVar Arrington, a free-agent signing. Three games into 2006, though, the entire team has only two sacks. Umenyiora registered one in the opener against the Indianapolis Colts, and Robbins got the other in Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Giants’s lack of a pass rush hasn’t been for a lack of opportunity. Opposing teams have thrown 119 passes against the Giants, the most pass attempts any defense has faced this season. Big Blue’s ratio of one sack for every 59.5 pass attempts is by far the worst in the NFL, and it is light years behind the team’s performance last year, when they had 41 sacks in 580 attempts, or one for every 14 passes.

A Giants fan looking on the bright side could say the team’s problems stem largely from playing three teams with good offensive lines and quarterbacks who know how to avoid pressure. But that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Hasselbeck threw 57 passes and was sacked eight times in the first two games of the season, but he managed 33 passes without being sacked once against the Giants. Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb threw 45 passes against the Giants and was sacked once, but he threw 68 passes and was sacked four times in his other two games. Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning threw 41 passes against the Giants and was sacked once, but he threw 69 passes and was sacked four times in his other two games.

So why aren’t the pass rushers producing? Giants defensive coordinator Tim Lewis deserves a lot of the blame, which he did accept publicly yesterday. Lewis generally prefers to get his pass rush from the two defensive ends, rather than from blitzing linebackers and defensive backs. Opposing teams have learned that if they block Strahan and Umenyiora, they’ll have all day to pass. Lewis needs to change his ways and go with a more aggressive blitz scheme.

He would be wise, however, to avoid using Arrington in that capacity. Although Arrington earned a reputation as a good pass rusher early in his career with the Redskins, knee injuries have slowed him considerably, and he is no longer effective at rushing the passer — he hasn’t registered a sack since the first game of the 2004 season. Rookie linebacker Gerris Wilkinson, who had 12.5 sacks in his career at Georgia Tech, could take Arrington’s place in passing situations and blitz effectively. Wilkinson played special teams almost exclusively in the first two games of the year, but on Sunday he played several snaps and performed well enough that the Giants should consider substituting him for Arrington.

The Giants could also benefit from using safety blitzes. Free safety Will Demps, acquired as a free agent from Baltimore this off-season, occasionally blitzed in his four seasons with the Ravens but hasn’t been called upon to blitz this year. The Giants could use Demps or strong safety Gibril Wilson in much the same way the Jets use safety Kerry Rhodes, who has three sacks this season.

Lewis should also consider using more personnel groups in which either Kiwanuka or second-year defensive end Justin Tuck plays at the same time as Strahan and Umenyiora. Strahan is capable of playing defensive tackle in addition to his usual position of end, and moving him to the inside would make room for Tuck or Kiwanuka and put an extra pass rusher on the field.

Kiwanuka had 37.5 career sacks at Boston College, but so far he has played sparingly and registered only one tackle in each game as a professional. The Giants expected Tuck to play an increasingly important role this season, but he has contributed more on special teams than on defense.

As much as the Giants need to revise their approach to blitzing, the most important part of improving the pass rush might be improving the pass coverage. Manning, McNabb, and Hasselbeck all found open receivers quickly, which is why the Giants haven’t registered any of the “coverage sacks” that strong defenses get when the quarterback holds the ball too long because he can’t find anyone open.Veteran cornerback Sam Madison, signed as a free agent this offseason, has been the weak link in the secondary, routinely leaving open opposing receivers.

The decline of the Giants’ pass rush may be coinciding with a decline of Strahan, who will turn 35 this year. By drafting Kiwanuka in the first round, the Giants’ front office signaled that they saw such a decline coming. Strahan holds the NFL record for most sacks in a season, with 22.5 in 2001, and although that record comes with a pair of asterisks because Packers quarterback Brett Favre appeared to allow Strahan to get his record-breaking sack and because sacks have been an official NFL statistic only since 1982,Strahan’s place in history is secure.The Giants’ defense is anything but.

Mr. Smith is a contributing editor to FootballOutsiders.com.