FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - Patriots assistants Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia said they were humbled to speak with NFL teams about head coaching vacancies over the weekend, but have turned their attention to preparing for Saturday’s playoff matchup with the Texans.
New England’s offensive and defensive coordinators acknowledged Monday that they had participated in interviews, but neither specified which teams they met with.
The San Diego Chargers said Saturday that they had completed an interview with Patricia, and the Los Angeles Rams had also planned to speak with both Patricia and McDaniels.
McDaniels, who was a head coach with the Denver Broncos in 2009 and 2010, said these latest interviews “will play out how it’s supposed to play out.”
“I feel fortunate to have even the opportunity to sit in front of those people, that they would listen to me and spend time with me,” McDaniels said.
“You just try to do the best you can and represent yourself, your team, your organization that you come from, your family as best you can.”
Patricia has spent all 13 of his years in the NFL as a Patriots assistant. He said he was fascinated to learn about different organizations, but said his focus is now on Houston.
“Sometimes when as you just kind of anchor into what we do day in and day out, you never really look at that stuff on a full scale,” Patricia said.
“But it’s very fascinating the NFL in general, the organizations and how they’re operated. It’s really cool. But again, (focusing on) Houston is where I’m at.”
The Patriots had a bye last week, leaving Saturday as the only available day for NFL teams to speak with McDaniels and Patricia.
Coach Bill Belichick has previously voiced his support of both coordinators being candidates for head coaching jobs.
McDaniels said that Belichick had been nothing but helpful during the process.
“He’s the best. He’s very unselfish and he cares for us all,” McDaniels said. “If there’s something that we need or we would ask of him I’m certain that he would do it and give it to us whether it’s advice, wisdom counsel, what have you.
“He’s not only someone we take our cues from getting ready for the next opponent, but he’s a mentor in a lot of different areas of our lives and this would be no different.”
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