McDaniels could be headed home with Brady and Belichick. (Getty Images)

By Will Brinson

Despite a miserable 2011 season as Rams offensive coordinator (St. Louis ranked 31st in yards per game and last in points per game), Josh McDaniels remains in pretty hot demand as a coach.

The former Broncos coach was actually the only Rams coach retained in a front-office purge, but St. Louis let it be known they'll release McDaniels from his contract. At this point he's a leading candidate for various openings in Kansas City, and now, he's set to interview with his old team, the Patriots.

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That last piece of news is courtesy of NFL Network's Albert Breer, who reports that the Pats have received permission to speak with McDaniels and will talk to him over the weekend about the offensive coordinator position vacated by Bill O'Brien's departure to Penn State.

McDaniels, of course, was O'Brien's predecessor, so there's a good chance that he'll ace the interview. Under McDaniels, the Pats offense was beyond prolific, scoring 589 points and ranking first in passing yards, total yards, points, touchdowns and net yards per attempt en route to a 16-0 regular season. (You may have heard of this team.)

Tom Curran of CSN New England noted that the "relationship [is] strong" between Bill Belichick and McDaniels, so it's unlikely that any burnt bridges would negate McDaniels desire to return.

Then there's this: wide receiver Brandon Lloyd, scheduled to be a free agent, already said he wants to go wherever McDaniels goes. Since he already knows McDaniels offense, it's likely he'd be a perfect fit in New England's offense (think a filthy rich man's Deion Branch?) as well, and combined with Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, could make the Pats offense absolutely deadly.

But McDaniels is also being courted by the Chiefs; if he's offered the head-coaching job in Kansas City, it might be too difficult for him to turn down in favor of returning to New England.

Given the choice between running the Chiefs offense and running the Patriots offense, however, it's hard to imagine him going anywhere other than New England.

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One thing Belichick's offensive coordinators have had in common: a QB by the name of Brady. (US PRESSWIRE/Getty Images)

By Ryan Wilson

Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien has agreed to become Penn State's next head coach, CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman confirmed Thursday night.

This comes after a week of rumors had O'Brien taking the job, not taking the job, then interviewing for the job in that order on consecutive days. But now that his employment status is set, what does this mean for the Patriots?

It's not the first time the organization has lost an offensive coordinator (or even one to a high-profile college job). Notre Dame hired Charlie Weis in December 2004 and he coached the Fighting Irish through five mostly disappointing seasons before he was fired.

Weis was Bill Belichick's first offensive coordinator in New England, arriving in 2000, the same year the Patriots used the 199th on (wait for it…) Tom Brady. The Pats won three Super Bowls from '00-'04; when Weis headed for South Bend, he was replaced by then-29-year-old quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels. (McDaniels didn't officially have the title of offensive coordinator until 2006, but according to a 2008 New York Times, story he called the plays during the 2005 season.)

McDaniels was there in 2007, too, when the Patriots went 18-0 and set countless offensive records on their way to the Super Bowl. They lost to the Giants in one of the biggest upsets in championship history, and following the 2008 season, McDaniels was hired by the Broncos to replace Mike Shanahan. He lasted a season and a half before poor personnel decisions and a string of losses led to his dismissal 12 games into the 2010 campaign.

Both Weis and McDaniels reemerged as NFL coordinators; the former with the Chiefs in 2010 (Weis later returned to college, first as Florida's OC this fall before accepting the Kansas head-coaching gig in December), the latter with the Rams in 2011.

O'Brien's NFL journey began in February 2007, when the Patriots hired him after two seasons as Duke's offensive coordinator. After a year, he was promoted from offensive assistant to wide receivers coach. And like McDaniels before him, O'Brien called plays "unofficially" before eventually being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2011.

So how have New England offense's fared the year after losing their coordinator? Unsurprisingly, as long as Tom Brady's upright, it's pretty much all systems go.

In 2004, the Pats' offense ranked third, according to Football Outsiders metrics. In 2005, after Weis left for Notre Dame, the Pats ranked seventh. In 2008, they were eighth; in '09, with McDaniels in Denver, they were first.

Next question: with O'Brien off to State College, who replaces him in New England? CNNSE.com's Tom Curran has a list of names -- some familiar, others less so.

* Chad O'Shea, Pats wide receivers coach
* Josh McDaniels, Rams offensive coordinator
* Jeff Davidson, Vikings offensive line coach

But again, the most critical element to New England's success isn't the guy calling the plays, it's the guy under center. The Patriots go as far as Brady goes. But we already knew that.

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By Josh Katzowitz

Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien will be Penn State's next football coach, according to a USA Today report.

As NFL.com’s Jason LaCanfora originally reported, O’Brien had emerged as a candidate to become Joe Paterno’s successor at Penn State after Titans coach Mike Munchak said he had no interest in that job. Now, USA Today's Jon Saraceno is reporting that “only contract details need to be finalized before O'Brien is the man.”

The last time we heard from O’Brien, he and Tom Brady were in a screaming match on the sideline during the Redskins game after Brady threw a bad interception in the end zone.

That shone an unfortunate spotlight on O’Brien, who’s been in charge of New England’s offense for the past year (and with the team as its quarterback coach for the past three seasons) and has helped the Patriots become the second-ranked offense in the league by yards and third-ranked by points. O’Brien -- whose contract expires at the end of this season -- has never been a head coach at the pro or college level, though he was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech. LaCanfora writes he also could have interest in the Chiefs head coaching job.

Titans first-year coach and Penn State alumnus Mike Munchak has been courted heavily by the school. Though Munchak has been more than definitive, more reports have emerged that say Munchak still is thinking about it.

Also, Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements supposedly participated in a phone interview with Penn State, but that news quickly was denied by all parties.

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By Josh Katzowitz

Tom Brady’s shoulder has been the most mysterious body part in the NFL for the past three days, and it seems clear that somehow something is wrong with it. After all, he missed Wednesday’s practice for “non-injury” shoulder X-rays and appeared to be favoring it as he threw to receivers Thursday.

He was listed as probable on Friday’s injury report, but NFL.com’s Albert Breer has bad news. Breer’s sources tell him that Brady has a sprained left shoulder, and though it is not an “instability problem” and it shouldn’t keep him from playing, Brady’s presence on Sunday will be guided by how well he can handle the pain.

"If they're not out there, there is either another player ahead of him or we're not confident they can go out there [healthy]," Bill Belichick, the question-dodger, said today when asked about Brady's status. "It's as simple as that."

The Patriots, when they face the Bills, still have something to play for Sunday. A win or tie would wrap up a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, meaning they’d have home-field advantage all the way until the Super Bowl. Whether backup Brian Hoyer could beat Buffalo in order to seal that scenario, that’s the question Belichick probably will have to weigh between now and kickoff.

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By Will Brinson

The Patriots are in an interesting position on Sunday against Buffalo, as they still need to win (or have Baltimore and Pittsburgh lose, which is unlikely) to clinch homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, but they're dealing with an injury to quarterback Tom Brady that makes him a risky start against the Bills.

Which may explain why, according to our Patriots Rapid Reporter Greg Bedard, Bill Belichick was dodging questions about Brady's status for Sunday's game.

"If they're not out there, there is either another player ahead of him or we're not confident they can go out there [healthy]," Belichick said when asked about Brady's status. "It's as simple as that."

That is simple, especially considering the fact that we know Brian Hoyer, Brady's backup, is not as good as Tom Brady.

So if Brady doesn't play, then Brady's shoulder issue -- which we mentioned earlier in the week and which we brought up again when he appeared to be favoring it -- is much more problematic than we thought.

Of course, Brady was present in the portion of practice that the media got to see and Belichick's emphasized, once again, that New England is playing to win.

"Every game is important and there are important things in this game," he said per Bedard. "We’ll prepare for this game just like we have the last 15. That’s the best way I can put it."

So what Belichick is saying (by way of not saying it) is that Brady might not be healthy. And if he's not there, then Patriots fans can start getting worried.


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By Josh Katzowitz

As we told you earlier today, it appears Tom Brady missed Wednesday’s practice for shoulder X-rays, though strangely, he was listed on the practice report as a “non-injury issue.”

Yes, getting shoulder X-rays possibly because Brady's shoulder got “dinged” in last Sunday’s game vs. the Dolphins sounds an awful lot like an injury issue, Patriots spokesman Stacey James said Thursday, "If there was an injury then it would be on the injury report."

Either way, Brady returned to practice Thursday, and on the injury report, he was listed as limited because of a, ahem, shoulder injury.

But you can judge for yourself how much Brady’s shoulder might affect him Sunday vs. the Bills, because the Boston Herald provided  practice video of Brady throwing for you. And yeah, it does appear (at least, to my amateur eyes) that Brady is favoring his left shoulder as he makes throws. Which probably isn't what the Patriots want as they prepare to head into the postseason.



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By Will Brinson

On Wednesday, Tom Brady did not participate in practice with the rest of the Patriots team. That wouldn't be entirely shocking, perhaps, but for the fact that New England listed him as out for "non-injury related issues" despite reports that Brady missed practice to have X-rays on his shoulder.

The report of the shoulder X-ray comes from Tom Curran of CSN New England, who reports that Brady "dinged" his shoulder late against the Dolphins, had it "checked for separation" and was told that "all is set."

Brady likely injured the shoulder when he took a shot from linebacker Cameron Wake on a one-yard touchdown throw in the second half.

But again, on the injury report, Brady's listed as a "non-injury issue," so it's a bit confusing.

There's also the fact that talking to the press on Wednesday afternoon, neither Brady nor Bill Belichick were asked about Brady's shoulder injury. (And, of course, neither one offered anything to the press, though Belichick using the phrase "if ifs and buts were candy and nuts every day would be Christmas" was pretty funny.)

That will likely change on Thursday, provided both/either are available to the press.

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By Josh Katzowitz

Just because he’s one of the best NFL quarterbacks of all time and just because he’s married to one of the most beautiful women in the world and just because he can wear Uggs on his feet and his hair like teenage pop stars and not be punched in the face, that doesn’t mean Tom Brady has the perfect life.

Far from it, actually.

After all, he has to wait until the mansion (pictured above) that he bought has finished being built before he can move into its luxury. So yeah, his life kind of stinks right now.

As the Boston Globe points out, the mansion, nearly 22,000 square feet in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, is almost complete. When it’s finished, the home will feature eight bedrooms, a covered bridge, a six-car garage, and a lagoon-shaped swimming pool.

Until then, Brady will be slumming it, probably on somebody’s couch. Hey man, nobody said life was easy.

Photo courtesy of Whittle/Splash News (via the Globe)

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