Last year, there was no defensive tackle better than the New York Giants‘ Dexter Lawrence. The 6-foot-4, 340-pounder was a dominant force and earned his third consecutive Pro Bowl nod.

Lawrence had nine sacks in just 12 games, leading the team, before being placed on injured reserve (IR) with a dislocated elbow. Since then, he’s been eerily quiet. This season, despite playing all eight games, he has just a half-sack and four QB hits.

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What happened? Is he fully recovered from the injury or not? We know he faces double teams on most of his snaps, but that has barely slowed him down in the past. He just appears to be mortal this year. It happens.

Former Giants linebacker and current radio analyst Carl Banks recently called Lawrence out on his podcast, stating that Lawrence is no longer respected by his opponents.

That led to Lawrence biting back at Banks, who was just simply trying to motivate the Pro Bowler.

“He’s delusional,” said Lawrence.

This week, Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson came to Lawrence’s aid, defending him to the media.

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“I get people look at the numbers and say he is not playing to the numbers he had last year. That part of it is true,” Patterson said, via the New York Post. “That does not mean he is not playing well. I don’t know if people understand it. I watch the film over and over and over again. If he wasn’t playing well, I would stand right here in front of you and tell you, ‘He’s not playing well and I have to get him to play better.’ But that’s not the truth.”

Patterson went on to explain that the league is gameplanning better for his man, having learned the hard way in the past.

“He is his own worst enemy,” Patterson said. “What he did last year was unreal. Is he still striving to go out there and try to achieve those goals? Yes, but it’s hard to do from where he plays. He’s not a three-technique who gets 1 on 1s. He is trapped right in the middle. And he made a name for himself. That’s what he has to deal with.”

Nine games remain in this 2025 season. Right now, Lawrence is not likely to be named to a fourth-straight Pro Bowl, especially with this negative narrative floating about. He can turn things around beginning this week against the 49ers, who have not exactly been lighting up the scoreboard this season.

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Before he finished, Patterson had a few more words regarding Banks’ critique.

“It’s OK for [Banks] to have the opinion that he has and that’s how he sees it,” Patterson said. “It’s one person’s opinion. I have a great deal of respect for what he’s done in his career as a New York Giant. But when it comes to D-line, I’m one of 32 [NFL coaches] that does this in the whole world. My word, Shane’s (DC Shane Bowen) word, and our head coach’s word is the most important word. No, it doesn’t carry any other merit.”

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants assistant comes to defense of Dexter Lawrence amid criticism