Josh McDaniels focused on Titans, not his many interviews

[Pat Patriot]

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There are four NFL head coaching jobs available at the moment, and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ name has been linked to three of them.

But even though the Panthers, Giants, and Browns want to interview him, he still works for the Patriots, which means he has to say that his entire focus is on the next thing in front of him.

In this case, that means Saturday night’s playoff game against the Titans.

“I’m 100 percent fully invested in getting ready for Tennessee and trying to put our best performance of the season out there on Saturday night,” McDaniels said, via Nick Goss of NBCSportsBoston.com. “We have a lot of work to do. That’s where my focus will be. That’s where it’s at now, and it’ll stay there. That’s the best thing for our team. It’s the best thing for me. We’re one of 12 teams that have an opportunity to compete in the postseason. And that’s the only way I’ll ever do it.”

Perhaps the way they sagged down the stretch, losing to the Dolphins in the finale soured his mood. Or perhaps it was the fact they ranked 15th in the league in total offense (but seventh in scoring), as they never met the standards they’ve set for themselves in the past.

Or he just doesn’t want to talk about job interviews now.

“With all due respect to the question, I’m not even aware of any of that stuff at this point,” McDaniels said. “When that stuff is presented to me or discussed with me or whatever, then we’ll deal with it appropriately. But honestly, it’s pretty easy for me in terms of my formula — I’m the offensive coordinator of the Patriots. We have a lot of work to do. We can improve in a lot of areas to try to get ready for this week. It’s our biggest game of the year against certainly the best team we’ve played. This is a postseason game, so our players deserve that, our coaches deserve that, and that’s what they’re going to get from me.”

And at which point he becomes available, then those interviews will be the thing he focuses on, if the jobs aren’t filled by then.