The Post’s Steve Serby sat down with the starting right outside linebacker two days before the Giants’ NFC wild-card showdown with the Eagles:

Q: You have two older brothers in jail.

A: One (Devell) is in for life without parole. And (Darwin) just went in.

Q: For what?

A: A number of things.

Q: And Devell?

A: A homicide.

Q: Does that blow your mind?

A: No. It’s part of what makes up who I am and gives me an interesting perspective on the world, because I can go to the roughest of the rough neighborhoods and feel comfortable, or I can go to a palace with a prince and feel comfortable.

Q: Describe your McKeesport, Pa., hometown.

A: Rough. Everything revolved around U.S.X., which was a steel company. When it left and took all the jobs to Japan, crime swept in, and it hasn’t been the same since.

Q: Worst thing you saw?

A: Dead bodies on the ground. I knew the guy who was dead, knew the guy who did it. It was really sad.

Q: Idols growing up?

A: My grandmother who raised me, and Jack Lambert. Growing up in Pittsburgh, we idolized the Steelers, and Jack Lambert and the Steel Curtain was what made me want to be a linebacker.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: Jesus; Ben Franklin; Napoleon.

Q: Tell me about your grandmother [Ozella Wilkes].

A: I think she would have a lot in common with Napoleon (laughs). To me, she was probably the meanest person in the world because I couldn’t do anything the other little kids could do. She told me that the reason why you can’t do what other kids do is I don’t want you to be like them, I want you to be different. It was one of the most profound things I’d ever heard. But I didn’t understand it until I was in college and I came back, and I looked at all those same little kids, and they’re doing the same thing they were doing when they were 12 and 13 years old.

Q: Which was?

A: Running the streets … being on the corner … not wanting to grow … not understanding that you can rise above whatever circumstances you’re in.

Q: How old was she when she passed away five years ago?

A: The world may never know. My freshman year in high school she said she was 72. Her birthday is April 10th, and every year on April 10th she would say she was 72.

Q: Why were you were raised by her?

A: ‘Cause my mother passed away when I was 2, and my father was in and out of trouble.

Q: Best piece of advice she gave you?

A: Put God first, in everything that you do.

Q: Why were you so ticked off to charge [current pal] Jeremy Shockey during your 2002 training-camp brawl?

A: It’s the NFL, and there’s a rite of passage, and there’s just certain ways that things are done. And when things aren’t done that way, it’s taken as a sign of disrespect. And if you don’t have respect, you don’t have anything.

Q: First time you put on the Giants uniform?

A: A pre-season game against the Ravens. Driving to the stadium, my car conked. Me and Ron Dixon had to push it off to the side of the road, and a teammate [George Williams] rode past (on Route 17), picked us up and took us to the stadium.

Q: Best NFL hit?

A: I hit a fullback [Mack Strong] on a crossing route, and we both had to leave the game for a few plays.

Q: Favorite Joe Paterno story?

A: I think it was my sophomore year at Penn State and we were having problems on the offensive line. They were doing cut-block drills. One of the offensive linemen didn’t do such a good job, and (Paterno) was like, (in high-pitched rasp), “No, no, John, this is how you do it right here!” He got down in a football stance and went to cut-block the bag, but didn’t cut-block with his shoulder, like with good form … like side-bodied the bag, hit it with his chest. He hit the ground and bounced twice, and everybody was like: “Uhhhhh … is he all right?” And he got up and everybody started laughing, and he says, “Baloney.”

Q: Memories of Super Bowl XXXV?

A: A thrill like you couldn’t imagine going out on that field and thinking that every kid that ever put on a helmet wants to be right here, right now.

Q: Harry Carson used to tease you that an imposter was wearing his No. 53 when you used to wear it.

A: The New York Giants were the equivalent of the Penn State Nittany Lions. They were known for having linebackers.

Q: Favorite childhood memory?

A: Winning the state championship in football, senior year in high school.

Q: If I were president, I would … ?

A: Have a war on ignorance. I would (make) educating our youth as big a priority as terrorism. Right now, in our country, we are living off the labor and hard work of the generations that came before. Every problem that we have can be solved through education, and it needs to be approached like it is the gravest threat to us continuing to be the greatest superpower on earth.

Q: What’s it like living in Manhattan?

A: Everything you could possibly want or imagine is at your fingertips. The Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art, Broadway. You can eat food from every hemisphere every day.

Q: Favorite movie?

A: “Forrest Gump.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Denzel Washington.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Halle Berry.

Q: Favorite singer?

A: Madonna.

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Crab legs.