It is not yet late early for the Giants. Late, though, arrives soon enough — Sunday in the home opener against the Bills, to be exact.

The Giants getting thrashed by the Cowboys in Arlington, Texas is no shock, considering the disparity in where these teams sit in the NFL pecking order. The home team is a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

The road team figures to compete with the Redskins for third place in the NFC East and scrape and claw to approach a break-even record.

Sure, the defensive breakdowns and — even more disconcerting — what looks to be the greatest fears realized about the talent level on defense made it a brutal way for the Giants to open their season. Losing 35-17 means the Giants are 0-1, which is hardly unexpected.

The Cowboys and Giants are on different levels. Still, it is something to give up touchdowns on five consecutive series on drives of 75, 93, 83, 75 and 89 yards. That’s some massive ball-hogging domination. Of Dak Prescott’s four touchdown passes, three were barely contested, wide-open looks.

The home opener against the Bills is a different story. It is too early, of course, to make any grand pronouncements heading into Week 2, but this much is clear: If the Giants cannot hang with the Bills, it gets ugly too soon. The Giants’ defensive flop was so alarming that the Bills at the start of the week are 2 ¹/₂-point favorites, quite a feat, considering they were not favored one time last season on the road.

“We need to just get back to work,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said Monday. “I think there were some good things in the game, but those are obviously overshadowed by the things that contributed to the loss.’’

The lack of pressure (no sacks) was glaring and Pro Football Focus gave the Giants the lowest defensive pressure grade of any team in Week 1 heading into Monday night. Outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter got to Prescott once and Markus Golden did not lay a glove on the Cowboys quarterback — at least when he didn’t jump offsides.

Rookie defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence played 28 snaps and the production from the big man from Clemson was negligible: one assisted tackle.

“We have some more young players in there playing that could just be a little more active or violent,’’ Shurmur said. “We went against a good offensive line that blocked well. … We had a couple of spots where we got pressure, and Dak actually made a couple of good throws with pressure, so we’ve just got to get more of it. The players that we have in there have just got to continue to keep working to maximize the rushes that they get.’’

The Giants’ coverage grade from Pro Football Focus was higher than only one team playing its opener Sunday — the Dolphins, who allowed 59 points to the Ravens.

“We had a lot of little mistakes that turned into big plays,’’ linebacker Alec Ogletree said. “When you got a good team like that, they’re able to do that to you. It’s disappointing the way we lost. We know we’re a better team than that.’’

This was the debut for several rookies. The most disappointing, given the buildup, was cornerback DeAndre Baker who struggled, torched for two touchdowns.

“Welcome to the NFL,’’ Ogletree said of the mistakes by the youngsters.

Baker (31 snaps) alternated with Antonio Hamilton (36 snaps) because Baker, the first-round pick out of Georgia, missed extensive time this summer dealing with a strained knee and the coaching staff was not confident he could handle a full workload. Moving forward, Baker needs to get on the field and stay on the field.

Hamilton, undrafted, might soon give way to rookie Corey Ballentine, who played only nine snaps.

“Just keep working, baby,’’ veteran cornerback Janoris Jenkins said. “You have a lot of talent, a lot of potential. Things are going to turn. They’ll turn.’’

The run defense actually was fine — the Cowboys gained 89 yards, averaged three yards per carry and did not have a run of more than 10 yards. Part of that was the rust and part-time usage of Ezekiel Elliott coming off his summer contract holdout.

“We got the right people, we got the right scheme,’’ Ogletree said. “My confidence hasn’t been shaken in our defense. We know we got a great defense here.’’

At this point, there is nothing remotely good, let alone great, about this defense.