NEW YORK — Imagine giving up 276 rushing yards and gloating about having an NFL job.

That’s what Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson did Friday. He made Carl Banks’ criticism of Dexter Lawrence about himself and, in the process, demonstrated that this organization is focused on all of the wrong things.

“I have a great deal of respect for what he’s done in his career as a New York Giant, a great deal of respect, more than you ever can imagine,” Patterson said of Banks, the two-time Super Bowl champion. “But when it comes to D-line, right, I’m one of 32 of all that does this in the whole world. I’m one of 32 that have done this for a long time.”

“So my word is the most important word in my room, not what anybody else says out of this building,” Patterson added. “My word, [defensive coordinator] Shane [Bowen]’s word and our head coach’s word. Nobody else, and they understand that. So no, that [criticism from Banks] doesn’t carry any merit.”

Patterson got something wrong there: He’s not one of 32. He’s 32 of 32.

The Giants defense is allowing 5.7 yards per carry, ranked dead last in the 32-team NFL. Their 148.9 rushing yards per game allowed ranks 30th with the Cincinnati Bengals (151.9) and Buffalo Bills (150.3) just a hair behind.

Banks said “nobody respects” Lawrence at the start of this week to try to light a fire under the underperforming Lawrence. It is not a stretch to believe that Banks had the blessing of someone high up in the organization, like Brian Daboll or Bowen, to call out their best player to try to motivate him.

On Friday, Patterson should have said that Banks is right, Lawrence and the entire defensive line have to play better. He should have said that giving up 276 yards to the Philadelphia Eagles was unacceptable.

He should have said that no one knows that more than Patterson, Lawrence and the Giants’ players. And they are working hard to fix it, because the standard that Banks and the 1980s Giants set is what they consistently aspire to.

Instead, he demeaned Banks’ standing as the opinion of a “player,” not a coach, and admitted that he had asked Giants public relations to look up stats on Lawrence’s sacks total last season to demonstrate how the Giants lineman is a victim of his own success.

“I had Dion [Dargin] look this up for me,” Patterson said, before rattling off random stats about nose tackles and sacks.

Patterson didn’t understand that he was telling on himself by saying that, though.

He was showing that his priority was not fixing the poor play on the field or even admitting to it; it was to find statistics to correct a negative narrative.

His interview was even attended and monitored by a noticeably large contingent of Giants public relations compared to the other assistants.

If that doesn’t encapsulate Joe Schoen’s and Daboll’s Giants tenure in one example, nothing will.

Again, this is why someone like Banks had to say something: Lawrence’s coaches are too focused on making excuses for him to address the real problems here.

Patterson doubled down on Banks’ opinion not mattering any more than a reporter’s take.

“That’s your opinion [that is matters more]. That’s your opinion,” Patterson said. “Yeah, he’s a great Giant player. He’s a great Giant player. But he is not coaching the D line or a D line player in the National Football League. He’s not. Players have all kinds of opinions, but that doesn’t mean it’s right. Right?”

“I’m not putting his opinion down,” he added. “He has that right to have his opinion, but the bottom line is the players are being evaluated truly by the people that coach them and the players who play against them. Everybody else can have an opinion if they want to.”

Patterson at least admitted once that “my job is to coach these defensive linemen and help them get better week in and week out,” but he added that his job is also to “deal with realities.”

“And that’s what I do, I deal with realities,” he said. “If you ask any of my players, I don’t baby my players. I deal in truths. So if you’re not playing well, I get after you, no matter whether you’re Dexter Lawrence, a three-time Pro Bowler, or you’re [Darius Alexander] a rookie. It don’t matter to me. I’m gonna tell you the truth.”

The truth is Patterson is a finger pointer enabled by Schoen, Daboll and this organization.

He blamed the Giants’ safeties and corners for the team’s poor run defense at the end of last season. And Daboll scapegoated secondary coaches Jerome Henderson and Mike Treier.

So it was no surprise Lawrence lamented that “it’s not just the front guys who stop the run” after both Saquon Barkley and Tank Bigsby rushed for 100 yards on Sunday in Philly.

And that’s why it was unsurprising — even though it was disappointing — that Lawrence called Banks “delusional” on Wednesday.

He’s just following his coach, who is more concerned about perception than the reality he claims to deal with.

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