We know you hate the Patriots, and that’s perfectly OK.

But, if you’re being honest, it’s time you respect them for their remarkable run of sustained success — a 15-year run that stands as perhaps the longest, greatest stretch in NFL history.

The Patriots are reviled by most of America outside of New England because:

They’ve won four of the past 14 Super Bowls and are trying to become the first NFL team (since they did it in 2003-04) to repeat, and most sports fans get sick and jealous of a perennial winner. It’s human nature.

They’ve won 12 of the past 14 AFC East titles.

They have the impossibly perfect pretty-boy quarterback with the supermodel wife in Tom Brady.

Their head coach, Bill Belichick, doesn’t care what you think, breeding a sense of arrogance that infuriates their detractors.

And, then there’s that the perception that they’re cheaters, with Spygate and Deflategate as much a part of their organizational résumé as those four Lombardi Trophies.

“We feel like every week — I don’t care who we play — I’m probably betting the whole league wants them to beat us, too,” Patriots safety Devin McCourty said after the Patriots beat the Bills last Sunday.

McCourty’s take is spot on. There are some NFL fans who derive as much pleasure seeing the Patriots lose as they do seeing their own team win — not unlike a Mets fan who is as excited by a Yankees loss as a Mets win.

That, however, should not take away from the respect even the haters should grudgingly give to the Patriots — who, even when the so-called experts predict they are headed for a down year, never have a down year.

Even in 2008, the year the Patriots lost Brady for the season to a knee injury in the first quarter of the season opener in Kansas City, they managed to go 11-5 with Matt Cassel at quarterback. Cassel is 23-33 as a starter since, has failed to hold down a job and is on his fourth different team since.

“Personally, I’ve always respected them for the level of football in which they play and how they execute,’’ Jets right guard Willie Colon told The Post. “One thing I respect about them is they stay in their lane. They don’t worry about what the outside world says about them or what’s going on. They show up, win and go home. That’s extremely commendable.

“You’ve got to respect them. They’re like the [Chicago] Bulls used to be. I was a Knicks fan, so I really hated the Bulls. But I respected them. You can say what you want about [the Patriots], but they show up on Sunday and nine out of 10 times they’re winning the game.

“You can say what you want about whatever scandal, but when you see them on Sunday, if you don’t bring your best it’s over, because you know they’re bringing their best. I don’t have any bad taste in my mouth toward them. You do kind of hate them because they’re so polished and clean and there is that little bit of jealousy. But they’re a hell of a team.’’