Patricia dodges questions on decision to pick Lions over Giants

ST. PAUL, MINN. - Matt Patricia learned well from Bill Belichick how to avoid answering questions.

The difference: He does it with a sense of humor and a smile on his face.

Patricia, the Patriots defensive coordinator, was the Giants' top choice to be their head coach but he elected to take the Lions job. The Giants announced Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as their head coach last Friday.

When Patricia was asked by the Daily News on Monday night at the Super Bowl Opening Night what happened with the Giants after he interviewed on Jan. 5, he said, "For me, it was a great process to go through the process that the NFL allows us to do. But it was a couple of weeks ago. Right now, what's awesome about that is I've just been able to dial in and focus on Philly."

When it was mentioned that he was considered to be the Giants No. 1 choice, he was asked if he had to make a decision between the Giants and Lions. "Again, what's been great is just Philadelphia," he said. "It's just an unbelievable offense that I am trying to stop and defend. The quarterback, the running backs, the tight ends."

Belichick no doubt would be proud of Patricia's answers.

Patricia worked with Lions GM Bob Quinn for 12 years in New England and that was a big factor in his decision to go to Detroit, which will be announced next week. New Giants GM Dave Gettleman is going to be heavy-handed and Patricia may not have had the same input into personnel. Also with John Mara and Gettleman having already signed off on Eli Manning's return, it didn't leave any candidate with much room to maneuver. Patricia inherits Matthew Stafford in Detroit. He is in the prime years of his career.

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels interviewed with the Giants in Foxborough on the same day as Patricia. He will be named Colts coach next week. He and Shurmur were considered to be trailing Patricia after the interviews.

"(The Giants) were very impressive," McDaniels said. "Mr. Mara is an unbelievable owner, person, man. Dave Gettleman. They were great. Their presentation was really impressive, tremendous. I was very fortunate to have an opportunity to meet them. They picked a great guy."

Shurmur, Patricia and McDaniels all wound up with head coaching jobs. Who made the best decision? Check back in about 11 months.