Giants All-Pro defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence has fired back at criticism from franchise legend Carl Banks.
“He’s delusional,” Lawrence said Wednesday in response to Banks’ comments on his podcast that “nobody respects you anymore.”
It was bizarre criticism from Banks considering Lawrence is getting double-teamed on a league-high 74.9 percent of his pass rush opportunities this season, according to ESPN. That’s almost identical to his league-high 74.5 percent double-team rate last season.
“I get a lot of attention,” Lawrence said. “Check those numbers.”
A fairer criticism would be that Lawrence hasn’t been nearly as productive when dealing with the type of attention that has been customary for a player widely viewed as one of the best interior defensive linemen in the league.
The half sack Lawrence recorded in Sunday’s loss to the Eagles was his first of the season. Lawrence had a career-high nine sacks in 12 games last season.
Sacks aren’t the defining stat for a nose tackle, but Lawrence’s pressure rate is down to 7.0 percent this season compared to 11.5 percent last season. And the eye test backs up the notion that Lawrence is not the same dominant force he was while earning Pro Bowl selections in each of the past three seasons.
Lawrence missed the final five games of last season with a dislocated elbow and his workload was reduced significantly this offseason as he recovered from injury. But Lawrence was forceful in dismissing the elbow as a factor in his declined production.
“My elbow is not an issue,” Lawrence said.
It was surprising for such pointed criticism to be levied by Banks, who works for the team as the color analyst on radio broadcasts and in other in-house media roles. Claiming Lawrence isn’t respected by opponents struck a chord.
“Those are strong words,” Lawrence said. “But if that’s how he feels, f– it.”
Banks defended his statement in a series of tweets on X after Lawrence’s comments. When one person on X noted he hated seeing “legends clashing with current players,” Banks wrote: “There is no clash.. I give my observations every week .. he is my favorite #giants player. I wouldn’t expect him to be happy with what I said. He is a prideful man. I wish (for) success for the 2nd (half) of this season.”
A case can be made that the attention paid to Lawrence has helped free up outside linebacker Brian Burns to record a league-high 10 sacks. As for Lawrence’s impact, he doesn’t believe it can be fully reflected on the stat sheet, but says it’s evidenced from the attention he continues to get from opposing offenses.
“I hope they start not respecting me because that’s not what’s showing on the field,” Lawrence said. “They’re showing a lot of respect on the field.”