THIS was domination to make those heralded defenses of yesteryear squeal with delight.

Osi Umenyiora storming in for a sack. Gibril Wilson using his body like a missle, launching himself into Correll Buckhalter on fourth-and-1 for no gain. Wilson crushing Brian Westbrook, knocking the ball loose so Will Demps could pounce on it. Sam Madison isolated in the flat, dragging down Thomas Tapeh short of a first down.

It was all on display for the Giants’ defense, swarming and sticking it to the Eagles on their own turf. The last six possessions: no points, much punishment, three first downs, and 56 yards allowed in nearly 20 minutes of action.

Clearly, the Giants’ defense, revamped this season for a Super Bowl run, was back in business.

If the Giants on Sunday in Seattle take with them the defensive surge that rallied them to a 30-24 overtime victory over the Eagles, this will be the start of big things for a team with big dreams. But if there’s a repeat of the way the Giants struggled for nearly the entire opener against the Colts and for 2½ quarters in Philadelphia, this figures to be a year filled with galling 31-27 losses.

Here is the deal for the 2006 Giants: The onus is on the defense to rise up to the standard of the offense. When was the last time that was the battle cry for this franchise?

Sure, the offensive line has to clean up the penalty issues and protect Eli Manning for the treasure he is, but the fact is the Giants can and will score with just about everyone in the NFL.

For now, though, all the blather about this being a formidable defensive unit is hot air, until proven otherwise.

All those summer-camp tales of the pass-rushing riches, reconfigured secondary and new depth at linebacker should be reclassified as fiction. In more than 131 minutes on the field this season, the ballyhooed pass rush has two sacks in 86 passes attempted. The Giants are 29th out of 32 NFL teams in total defense, 31st against the pass, allowing 308 yards per game.

Sure, they’ve faced Peyton Manning and Donovan McNabb, but guess what? It’s a bear of a schedule, with Matt Hasselbeck throwing to new toy Deion Branch up next.

Anyone who saw the look on the face of Antonio Pierce following the remarkable comeback at Lincoln Financial Field knew he wasn’t in the mood to party it up. The numbers given up by his unit, the way the Giants appeared clueless for long stretches, all this disgusted the proud middle linebacker.

“It was shocking because we prepare all week and we come out in the game and don’t perform and do the little things,” Pierce said with a snarl. “I mean, yeah, we won, but I’m not satisfied, we gave up 450 yards to a team, yeah, it’s a good team, but c’mon, we’re trying to be a top 10 defense here and eventually we got to stop the B.S. and make things happen and be a dominant defense.

“There’s no reason for us not to, for some reason now it’s not that way.” Maybe there are reasons the Giants aren’t and won’t live up to the hype. Madison didn’t exactly look spry running with Donte Stallworth. Wilson seemed to forget that opposing tight ends are eligible receivers.

LaVar Arrington two games into his Giants career has convinced no one he’s returned to full health and about to regain his menacing form. The defensive backs again go after balls in the air as if they were chasing feathers with a butterfly net. Michael Strahan does not have a sack, and defensive coordinator Tim Lewis has yet to mix in the blitz to make the enemy quarterback sweat.

With three newcomers in the secondary, maybe this all needs time to get sorted out, maybe the last 20 minutes at the Linc is a launching point. In order for the Giants to blast off, the defense needs to come along for the journey.