Why N.Y. over Detroit should be easy decision for Patricia

The Lions have hosted more Super Bowls than they’ve played: 2-0. The Giants have won more Super Bowls than they’ve hosted: 4-1. Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is the No. 1 candidate for the Giants and Lions.

This is the easiest decision Patricia will make in his head coaching career. Indications are Patricia and the Giants want each other with the Lions hoping his long-time association and friendship with Detroit GM Bob Quinn when they were together in New England for 12 years will be enough to attract him to the Motor City and keep him away from the bright lights of Broadway.

Not to sound too New York-centric, but it’s hard to come up with too many reasons why Patricia would rather coach the Lions. He’s from a tiny town in upstate New York, and there will be less pressure in Detroit, but he’s worked for Bill Belichick since 2004, so he is used to working in an environment with extraordinary expectations.

Did you know the Lions are the only team that has been around for the entire Super Bowl era that has never played in the game? Their last NFL championship came in the first year of Dwight Eisenhower’s second term as president. That was 1957. The Lions, Browns, Jaguars and Texans are the only teams that have yet to play in the Super Bowl. Imagine this: Lions fans wish they were Jets fans. It’s only been 50 years for Gang Green.

So, why would Patricia even consider Detroit?

l His relationship with Quinn is considered a real draw, but remember this: Eric Mangini and Mike Tannenbaum were best friends when Tannenbaum used his influence as the Jets’ assistant GM in 2006 to get Mangini hired as the coach. He had been Belichick’s defensive coordinator. Tannenbaum was promoted to GM a couple of weeks later. Mangini was fired after three years by Woody Johnson and it was up to Tannenbaum to break the news.

l It is only 45 miles to Ann Arbor, the greatest college town in America, home of the University of Michigan, The Big House and Zingerman’s deli. l The Detroit airport is very nice. Okay, those are the only reasons I can come up with.

Oh, wait a minute, maybe the Ford family will throw in a couple of extra cars. And the Lions do have Matthew Stafford, whom they thought enough of to make the highest paid player in NFL history last year with a fiveyear, $135 million contract that included a $50 million signing bonus with $92 million guaranteed. It’s a good thing the salary cap keeps going up to cover the bill. Stafford was picked first in 2009, the year the Jets traded up to get Mark Sanchez at No. 5. Playoff record: Sanchez 4-2. Stafford: 0-3. Now why would he pick the Giants? l Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson, the Lions’ two best players of this era, each retired prematurely, unable to deal with the losing. Sanders played 10 seasons, averaged 1,527 yards per season (he had at least 1,000 yards each year), and could have pushed his total out so far that Emmitt Smith would never have been able to catch him. Johnson was the unstoppable Megatron. They each left a lot of yards and money on the table. Sanders was 31 when he quit. So was Johnson, who played nine years.

l Detroit has been a graveyard for coaches. The good news: Patricia would be following Rod Marinelli, Jim Schwartz and Jim Caldwell. The bar is not set high.

l Let’s not overlook that the Giants are coming off a 3-13 season in which they set the record for most losses in the 93-year history of the franchise. But there’s a reason the Patriots are the only team to win more Super Bowls than the Giants since 1986. The Giants have proven they can win, even if they’ve struggled putting together a three- or four-year run of sustained success. They have a blueprint that has worked in the past. The Lions make it up as they go along.

l The Giants have Odell Beckham, who when healthy is among the two or three most explosive receivers in the league.

l They have the second pick in the draft and presumably will take Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen.

Instead of inheriting Stafford, who has yet to prove he can take the Lions past the wildcard round, Patricia could create his own identity by developing a potential franchise QB. Alabama offensive coordinator Brian Daboll would be a natural fit to work for Patricia as the Giants offensive coordinator. They worked together for Belichick for seven years in New England. Daboll’s stock is way up after one year working for Nick Saban after freshman QB Tua Tagovailoa came off the bench to start the second half and threw the winning 41-yard TD in overtime to beat Georgia in the national championship game Monday night.

Putting it together, the Giants offer a better opportunity for Patricia to succeed. It’s a better organization. It’s a better city. GM Dave Gettleman is a proven GM. Quinn is still learning how to build a team.

This really does seem pretty easy.

COACHING MOCK

Here’s how I think the coaching mock draft will shake out:

Giants: Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia

Colts: Patriots offensive coordinator McDaniels

Cardinals: Pat Shurmur

Lions: Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel.

First on everybody’s list in 2019: Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks Vikings offensive coordinator

RULE OF ENGAGEMENT

Josh

The Rooney Rule is broken and it’s become demeaning to minority candidates for head coach and GM opportunities. The Raiders came to an agreement with Jon Gruden before they even fired Jack Del Rio. That was bad. But after they fired Del Rio following the last game, they interviewed their tight ends coach Bobby Johnson and USC offensive coordinator Tee Martin to satisfy the Rooney Rule. Once Gruden was officially hired last week, he fired Johnson and interviewed Martin for his staff.

The NFL is looking into whether the Raiders violated the Rooney Rule. Uh, duh. Teams will often interview two minority candidates so it doesn’t appear they are doing it just to satisfy the Rooney Rule. The benefit of the interviews is it does raise the profile of the candidates, but if they have no chance at getting the job, is that the way to do it? I would like to think it’s reached the point that the best candidates are going to get interviewed regardless of color, but clearly the NFL still doesn’t trust the teams to do it on their own.

CHIEF CONCERN

Andy Reid is the worst playoff coach of this generation, even worse than Marvin Lewis, who is 0-7. Reid is one of the top regular-season coaches, but when he gets to the playoffs, he just flat out stinks. He was 1-4 in NFC title games in Philly, losing twice at home, and then his game management in the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots clearly indicated he fell asleep on the sidelines. The Chiefs blew a 31-10 halftime lead and 38-10 third quarter playoff leads in Indy in 2013 and lost 45-44. They blew a 21-3 halftime lead last week to the Titans and lost 2221 when leading rusher Kareem Hunt carried just five times in the last 48 minutes even as TE Travis Kelce, the Chiefs best player, missed the second half with a concussion... K.C. will certainly look to trade QB Alex Smith in the offseason, opening the way for Patrick Mahomes to start. Best case scenario for the Giants is Browns GM John Dorsey, who was in K.C. when they traded for Smith, brings him to Cleveland and drafts RB Saquon Barkley No. 1, leaving the Giants their choice of Rosen or Darnold. Smith has one year left on his contract: $14.5 million salary, $2 million roster bonus, $500,000 workout bonus... I can’t see Washington franchising Kirk Cousins for a third straight year, this time at $34 million. Maybe they get him signed to a long-term deal or let him leave as a free agent and start over. Jay Gruden didn’t sound overly thrilled in his postseason evaluation of Cousins: “When you’re 7-9, you know it’s hard to say, ‘Wow, this guy really was outstanding,’” he said. “Kirk had his flashes where he was really good. From a consistent standpoint, over the course of 16 games, you know we’re 7-9.” John Elway could make a play for Cousins in Denver. The Jets, too. Cousins will be 30 in August and I would rather see the Jets get a first-round QB and develop him. Wyoming’s Josh Allen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield will play in the Senior Bowl in two weeks, so that’s good for the Jets. Even more important is how they perform in practice in the week leading up to the game. Darnold and Rosen are not eligible to play in the Senior Bowl because it requires that a player was in school at least four years... It’s a Turner family reunion in Carolina. Ron Rivera hired Norv Turner to replace Mike Shula as offensive coordinator. Norv has brought his son Scott to be QBs coach. He worked for his father in Minnesota and spent last year at Michigan. Already on Rivera’s staff: Turner’s brother Ron is an offensive consultant and his nephew Cameron is the assistant quarterbacks coach. Well, it will make getting together for the holidays much easier. But will it improve the Panthers offense? Turner quit during the season with the Vikings in 2016 when he got tired of the interference from Mike Zimmer. Rivera worked for Turner as defensive coordinator when Norv was the Chargers head coach. But it’s not like the Turners were ever considered the first family of coaching.