Giants taking lack of rushing attack ‘personal’ entering Week 2

In life, you must learn to walk before you can run.

In football, you must prove you can run before you play-action pass.

The Giants’ lack of a rushing attack in Week 1 — 15 rushes for 30 yards by three running backs against the Commanders — was a failure that took away one of Russell Wilson’s greatest strengths and left everyone feeling there is a physical point to prove Sunday against the Cowboys.

“We definitely took it personal,” said Tyrone Tracy Jr., who carried 10 times for 24 yards and had 13 fewer rush yards than expected, per NextGenStats. “[Any] which way you slice it, it’s never up to our standards when you put on that performance.”

All you need to know about how the one-dimensional offense started the season is that the first play call from the 1-yard line — in a situation made for the offensive line and Tracy to impose their wills — was an incomplete pass to backup offensive tackle Marcus Mbow.

“You start evaluating the tape and you see maybe there was an alignment that we thought we could take advantage of,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “We were trying to be aggressive with it. It didn’t work out. First-down call, you have the ability to use those types of calls because really the defense doesn’t know, are you running it? Are you throwing it?’”

Twelve of the Giants’ 13 red-zone plays were called passes, including six of seven when it was a one-score game in the first half.

“I have to do what’s called, but I definitely said we needed to run the ball on the 1-yard line,” Tracy said. “I feel like everyone felt the same — whether it’s offensive line, quarterback, running back. To do the play-action pass off the 1-yard line, you have to run the ball first.”

Wilson has a résumé as one of the NFL’s best play-action passers of his generation.

He has totaled 36 touchdowns and 11 interceptions on play-actions since 2020, completing at least 64.7 percent of those attempts in four of those five full seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.

A below-customary 20 percent of his attempts in Week 1 came after a play fake.

He only attempted one pass of 20 yards or more — a disappointing “Moon Ball” debut.

“In any good offense, you have to have a well-established run,” Tracy said. “If you don’t, it’s going to be really hard to do anything else. It’s really easy to do a lot of good stuff when you are running the ball. It puts everybody at ease.”

The Cowboys — who have dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage twice per year against the Giants for nearly a decade — were so worried about their run defense coming out of training camp that they reportedly insisted on run-stuffers in trade packages for all-world pass-rusher Micah Parsons.

The Packers sent three-time Pro Bowler Kenny Clark, but the Cowboys still allowed 158 rushing yards and three touchdowns (68 and two, respectively, to quarterback Jalen Hurts) to the Eagles in their opener.

The challenge falls on a Giants offensive line that was moved off the ball by the Commanders.

Tracy, Devin Singletary and Cam Skattebo combined for 19 yards before contact as defenders penetrated the backfield.

“We know we weren’t good enough in the run game, and we know it has to be better,” center John Michael Schmitz told The Post. “We’ve been harping all week that it comes down to the details, being physical and making holes for the running backs because a 3-yard carry in the first half will spring out to be an explosive play in the second half. So, keep on bringing it.”

The offensive line entered the season with a lofty goal.

“We’re striving to be the best offensive line in the NFL,” left guard Jon Runyan Jr. told The Post before the season. “If we don’t get that, we’ll fall around top five, top 10 and we’ll still be pretty good. If we hold each other accountable to high standards when something’s not going how it should be, it’s a good mindset to have.”

So, why did the run game fall so flat?

“We just missed,” Kafka said. “We missed on a few things, whether it was a block here or a read key here [or] certain times of calling it. We have to do a better job on first and second down. We have to do a better job early in the game, get into a rhythm and get our guys going.”