An identity slowly takes shape.

Five games into the season, the Giants defense has established an identity in time for Sunday night’s game against the powerful Bengals at MetLife Stadium.

They rank 11th in the NFL in points allowed and 12th in yards gained.

Statistically speaking, that’s significantly better than the last two seasons under former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who was touted as an aggressive blitzmaster who went home because his defense allowed far too many big plays.

The Giants’ defense ranked 26th in points allowed and 27th in yards allowed last season – and 17th and 25th, respectively, in 2022.

The most important stat for this Giants defense is points allowed, an average of 20.8 per game. After a 28-6 loss to the Vikings in Week 1, the Giants gave up 21 points to Washington (on seven field goals), 15 to the Browns, 20 to Dallas and 20 to Seattle.

Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who replaced Martindale and is running a much different, less risky scheme, oversees a unit that leads the NFL with 22 sacks. So the Giants defense was disruptive.

“It’s like a pack of wolves out there, everyone trying to get to the football,” linebacker Micah McFadden told The Post on Thursday when asked to describe what he believes the team’s defensive identity is. “Make it a race for football. Who will do it first? “It’s just people who go hunting.”

The Giants defense will be counted on to hunt down the Bengals on Sunday night, as their quarterback Joe Burrow is one of the league’s true gunslingers and has serious weapons in receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

The Bengals quarterback has completed 72.3 percent of his passes for 1,370 yards, 12 touchdowns and just two INTs and has an impressive rating of 113.6.

“He plays at an elite level; “He’s been doing this for a few years,” Bowen said. “It was impressive what he has achieved so far this season. He’s really good at reading defenses before the snap, reading them really well after the snap, seeing through his progressions, and he has playmakers that he knows can win matchups.

“I’ve had experience playing him over the last few years and it’s always a challenge with him. The accuracy, the decision making, the ability to get the ball where he wants to put it and the ability to extend plays with his legs.

“Then,” Bowen continued, holding his breath, “you’re dealing with the people on the outside, Chase and Higgins.” And they’re having monster years right now.”

Chase leads the Bengals with 29 receptions for 493 yards, an average of 17 yards per catch, and has five TD receptions. Higgins, who missed the first two games, has 18 receptions and two touchdowns. Receiver Andrei Iosivas has three TDs among his 12 receptions. And tight end Mike Gesicki, a standout pass catcher, has 17 receptions.

Bowen said Chase was “a problem.”

“We have to know where he is every snap, we have to be aware of where he is every snap, both him and Higgins,” he said.

Bowen and Giants defensive captain Bobby Okereke’s word is “progress” when asked about the team’s defense.

“I feel like we’ve made good progress,” Okereke said. “We’ve gotten better every week. What is the word? Synergistic. “We have supported the program and really embraced the way Shane coaches and runs it, bringing the program to life.”

The Giants defense, particularly edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, who is out indefinitely with a wrist injury he suffered in Sunday’s game in Seattle, needs to come back to serious life on Sunday night.

The Bengals team the Giants will face will be a desperate, hungry and perhaps angry group. They come to Jersey with a record of 1-4, the opposite of what they expected after starting the season with title hopes.

Cincinnati’s four losses totaled 15 points last week – six against New England, one against Kansas City (5-0), five against Washington (4-1) and three against Baltimore (3-2).

“They’re obviously a team that really wants to win,” McFadden said. “They were able to win all their games. Apparently they were very close… just like us.”

The game is expected to be close on Sunday night, and the Giants (2-3) may need their defense to be the difference if they want to get to .500 for the first time since going 1-1 in September 2023.