New York Giants’ defensive line coach Andre Patterson on Friday issued a passionate takedown of Carl Banks’ comments this week that “nobody respects” Giants’ All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence any longer.
“He’s [Banks] a great Giant player. But he is not coaching the D-Line, or a D-Line player in the National Football League. Players have all kinds of opinions, but that doesn’t mean it’s right,” Patterson said. “I’m not putting his opinion down. He has that right to have his opinion. The bottom line is the players are being evaluated truly by the people that coach them, and the players that play against them.
“As a coach and a player you’ve gotta keep your focus and mind in the right spot. You’ve gotta know what voices you listen to, and what voices you put to the back.”
Patterson, one of the game’s most highly-respected defensive line coaches, has been in the profession since 1982. He came to the Giants in 2022 and has overseen Lawrence’s rise to becoming one of the game’s great players.
Patterson was vehement both in his belief that teams are respecting Lawrence, and that he is still playing well despite the lower numbers.
”The film don’t lie. He played 40 plays. In 40 plays, he got double-teamed 29 times. That’s run and pass,” Patterson said. “How is that being disrespected? He got double-teamed 29 times. That’s showing respect.
“All Dex can do is go out there and be Dexter. ”
Patterson has coached many great players since getting his first NFL job in 1997, with Lawrence being the latest.
“I don’t baby my players. I deal in truths. If you’re not playing well, I get after you – no matter who you are. Whether you’re Dexter Lawrence, a three-time Pro Bowler, or you’re D.A. [Darius Alexander], a rookie. It don’t matter to me. I’m gonna tell you the truth,” Patterson said.
With just a half-sack and four quarterback hits in eight games, Lawrence is not coming close to the nine sacks and 16 hits he had in 12 games last season.
Patterson pointed out that per research provided to him by the Giants’ PR staff, the last full-time nose tackle in the NFL to have a double-digit sack season came in the 1980s. Lawrence likely would have hit double figures if he had not finished the season on IR.
“What he did last year was unreal,” Patterson said. “Is he still striving to go out there and try to achieve those goals? Yes. It’s hard to do from where he plays. He’s not a three-technique that gets one-on-ones. He’s trapped right in the middle, and he made a name for himself.
“I get people look at the numbers and say, ‘he’s not playing to the numbers that he had last year.’ That part of it is true. But that does not mean he’s not playing well. I don’t know if people understand that.
“If he wasn’t playing well, I think all of you that know me here, I would stand right here in front of you and tell you, ‘he ain’t playing well and I’ve got to get him to play better.’ But that’s not the truth.”
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