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The Giants’ Week 1 loss was exactly that -- one game.

The job the Tampa Bay defense did on Carolina’s rushing attack was that, too -- just one game.

But 10 is a hard number to overlook, even with perspective. 

That’s the amount of rushing yards the revamped Buccaneers held last year’s No. 3 rushing offense (No. 1 in NFC) to on 13 carries in their opening 16-10 victory at home, and that included Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who ran five times for four yards.

“That’s impressive,” guard Kevin Boothe said. “So I think that definitely raises eyebrows around the league. Whenever you hold an NFL team to 10 yards rushing, usually you’re playing very good football. We’ll start studying them today and start practicing very hard for them on Wednesday. We got a little head start on them today, but we’ll really get after it on Wednesday and look to improve.”

It’s the start Tampa’s first-year head coach Greg Schiano had in mind this offseason when he hired defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, a former Giants linebackers coach (2005-08) and defensive coordinator (2009).

Meanwhile, the Giants’ ground game, which faces Carolina the week after Tampa Bay, enters Week 2 with mixed results in the opener. Ahmad Bradshaw averaged 4.6 yards on 17 attempts for 78 yards, but rookie David Wilson fumbled early on and didn’t have another carry thereafter. In total, the Giants had 82 yards, seven shy of their NFL-worst average in the 2011 regular season.

That leaves work to be done this week in preparation for an “athletic group that plays with a lot of energy,” according to Boothe.

“It’s never good to lose, but you’ve got to realize it’s a long season,” he said. “So we’ve got to learn from the loss to Dallas and look to improve every game. We’re going to have a big challenge ahead of us with Tampa Bay. We’re going to have to come out there and play really good football in order to beat them. They looked impressive defensively in week one.”