New England Patriots coordinators Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia weren’t willing to confirm Monday whether they’ll interview for any NFL head-coaching vacancies during the Patriots’ playoff bye week.
“Really, nothing,” McDaniels said in a conference call with reporters. “Just been working on grading the film here getting everything nailed down for the Miami (game). I know there’s a process in place, and we’ve been through this before. But at this point, I have nothing to add or comment on.”
The San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Rams all reportedly requested to interview the Patriots offensive coordinator for their respective head-coaching jobs.
The Rams reportedly also submitted a request to interview Patricia, who’s served as New England’s defensive coordinator since 2012. Like McDaniels, Patricia declined to comment on the reports.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Patricia said. “We’re just working on (Sunday’s) game and getting ready here for moving forward. I know there’s a process in place for that that the league follows, but for myself right now, I’m just really kind of focused on what we’re doing right now and the team moving forward. I’m in a normal Monday routine, which is great for me.”
With the Patriots enjoying a weekend off before the divisional round, any of the team’s assistants are permitted to interview for jobs elsewhere. McDaniels and Patricia both have experience with this process, as the former previously worked as a head coach and Denver and the latter interviewed for the Cleveland Browns’ job last offseason.
“I think that process last year is a great process to go through just as a young coach,” Patricia said. “That was extremely new to me. Learning about a lot of different organizations in the league and how they work and how they’re structured and kind of the football ins and outs from another different side of it that you see, but maybe you don’t study. You don’t look at. There’s a whole other aspect to the organizations and how everything’s run, so that was a great learning experience from that standpoint.”
Both coordinators stressed their primary focus is on New England’s upcoming playoff game, which will be next Saturday night at Gillette Stadium against the Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans or Miami Dolphins.
“Like anything, you try to balance everything,” Patricia said. “As far as what you’re doing, you just (ask), ‘What is the priority?’ And the priority is always going to be, above everything else, what this season is about, what we’re about here, trying to win and everything moving forward to the next game that we have to play, which is the most important thing. Nothing gets put above that. That’s the most important thing that we have to focus on.”
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
