So much for that new and improved Giants pass rush.

Expected to be one of the team’s top strengths this year, the unit was barely noticeable during the embarrassing 28-6 loss to the Vikings on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium to open the season.

After acquiring and extending Brian Burns, and with Kayvon Thibodeaux already in place on the other side of him and stud Dexter Lawrence in the middle, the Giants — on paper — should have a plethora of options to scare opposing quarterbacks.

But they recorded just one sack on Sam Darnold on Sunday — by Lawrence, on the second Vikings offensive play — and only two quarterback hits.

Thibodeaux, who tallied 15.5 sacks his first two years in the league after the Giants drafted him No. 5 in 2022, barely registered on the stat sheet.

He didn’t record a single tackle, and had just one quarterback hit.

“It is what it is,” Thibodeaux said of not making any tackles. “I think I might have missed one. You gotta do what you can. You gotta set edges, affect the quarterback and continue to make an impact in the game. … We got to be honest with the film, we got to address the facts and get better for next week.”

Actually, one of Thibodeaux’s only contributions helped the Vikings pull away.

Trailing 14-3, the Giants had come up with a stop on 3rd-and-16 on the Vikings’ first possession of the second half.

But Thibodeaux was called for a facemask penalty, handing the Vikings an automatic first down before they capitalized with a touchdown to make it 21-3.

Burns, for his part, was a bit more active, though it was still a far cry from the game-wreaking menace the Giants thought they were getting when they traded a 2024 second-round pick, a 2024 swap of fifth-round picks and a 2025 fifth-rounder to the Panthers for him and subsequently handed him a five-year deal worth up to $150 million.

He recorded four total tackles, though he failed to really touch Darnold.

“It was hard to get them off their game plan, get them off their track,” Burns said. “They did a good job executing what they wanted to do.”

Last year, the Giants totaled just 34 sacks — tied for fourth-least in the NFL.

New year, same result.

“It’s always hard to make tackles, hard to sack the quarterback, hard to do different things when you’re fighting from behind,” Thibodeaux said. “It’s the nature of the beast. They’re not going to get easier so chop up the film and keep going.”