New York sources are now pretending like the Giants didn’t want Matt Patricia as their head coach

Roughly two weeks ago, New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia was considered the favorite for the New York Giants head coaching job according to the New York Daily News, going so far as to declare Patricia “prefers the Giants to the Lions.”

Patricia is the presumed choice for the Detroit Lions head coaching position, so the NYDN report clearly fell short. Where did that report go wrong?

According to NYDN’s Gary Myers, “Patricia indeed was the Giants’ first choice and the source added that there was discontent in the organization that it didn’t go their way.”

In other words, the New York Giants are upset that the coaching candidates didn’t believe they were the best available opening.

While I thought Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels would have been a fine coach for the Giants because of his presumed ability to pick and groom his franchise quarterback, Patricia would be walking into a tough situation. The Lions make a lot more sense with an established franchise quarterback in Matthew Stafford and two great wide receivers in Golden Tate and Marvin Jones.

But now sources tell the New York Post that Patricia wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure of the New York market. Sure.

“The people I spoke to that work with him and know him didn’t think he was ready for a high-profile job,’’ the source told The Post. “They thought it would be Detroit or Arizona, where he could kind of cut his teeth, they didn’t think he was ready to leave the nest yet.’’

This sounds a like a case of the regrets from these sources as they try to save face after hiring Pat Shurmur, who the NYDN considered the team’s “second or third choice,” depending on where McDaniels ranked.

Now that the Giants didn’t get either Patriots coordinator, it seems like they’re trying to sell why Shurmur was the better option- which is totally fine and reasonable. I just have a hard time believing that people were considered about how Patricia would handle a job in a big market after having worked in New England.

Sure, New York is a different beast, but Patricia is a very personable and likeable guy that gives a good enough quote. So long as he won- which is the caveat for any head coach in any market- he would have been fine.