Giants meet with Patriots coordinators

The eyes of the football world are on Foxborough, Mass., where the Patriots’ empire may or may not be crumbling.

The Giants are far more interested in rebuilding their shattered program and their brain trust spent a frigid Friday in New England, trying to ascertain whether Josh McDaniels or Matt Patricia would fit as their next head coach.

The Giants contingent of co-owner John Mara, general manager Dave Gettleman and assistant general manager Kevin Abrams spent hours engaged in high-level interviews. They met with Patricia in the morning, took a break and in the afternoon sat down with McDaniels. The Patriots did not practice Friday — they are the No. 1 seed in the AFC and earned a playoff bye this weekend — making this the opportune time to carve out a few hours for Bill Belichick’s top lieutenants to try to impress the Giants, and if the team’s interest is piqued, to try to entice either McDaniels or Patricia to come aboard.

Co-owner Steve Tisch will meet with candidates later in the process.

McDaniels, the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, after meeting with the Giants was set to interview with the Bears, who fired John Fox after a 5-11 season.

Patricia, 43, is considered a favorite to land the Lions’ head-coaching vacancy, as Bob Quinn, a former Patriots executive, is the general manager in Detroit.

McDaniels, 41, has the previous head-coaching experience the Giants want as the replacement for Ben McAdoo. The Giants would rather not go the first-time head coach route again, though they might make an exception for Steve Wilks, the Panthers defensive coordinator.

McDaniels in 2009 was hired by the Broncos as a 33-year-old wunderkind and won his first six games, including an overtime victory over Belichick and the Patriots. The Broncos lost eight of their last 10 games, though, and McDaniels did not make it out of his second season, fired after only 12 games with the Broncos 3-9.

Despite the 11-17 record as a head coach, McDaniels is in high demand and is likely to leave the Patriots’ nest this time around. He has been on the New England staff for all five Super Bowl triumphs and is renowned as a playcaller and for his ability to change up the offensive game plan from week to week.

Patricia, a graduate from prestigious Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in aeronautical engineering, has been with the Patriots for three of their five Super Bowl victories, plus their two Super Bowl losses to the Giants. His defense is known for allowing plenty of yards but not many points. The Pats were first in the NFL in 2016 in scoring defense and this season were fifth in points allowed and 29th in yards allowed, which is a typical formula for Patricia’s success.

The Giants executives were in Foxborough on the day an ESPN report revealed a possible rift in the relationships of Belichick, owner Bob Kraft and quarterback Tom Brady, leading to speculation — most likely unfounded — that perhaps Belichick could be pried out of New England. If he ever were to leave the Patriots, the Giants would probably be the only team he would consider. Belichick got his NFL start with the Giants, spent 12 years in the organization and had fond memories