SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — DeMeco Ryans’ day as San Francisco’s defensive coordinator began with meetings and then went to the training field, focusing on implementing defense to slow down Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys.
Then, instead of chilling out or immersing himself in a movie night ahead of Sunday’s pivotal playoff showdown, Ryans switched gears and went into interview mode with a face-to-face meeting with the Denver Broncos about their job as head coach.
“In everything you do as a coach, you try to figure out a lot of things,” he said at his weekly Thursday press conference between training and interviews.
“You are trying to analyze a large amount of information in a certain amount of time. So time management is very important. I know I’m saving the main, main and main this week – “Cowboys”.
Ryans is one of several playoff assistants who have to balance between preparing for the most important games of their careers and the most important job interviews.
Other assistants who were interviewed or invited to interview for the head coach position include Cowboys coordinators Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore; Giants coordinators Mike Kafka and Wink Martindale; Eagles coordinators Shane Steichen and Jonathan Gannon; Buffalo offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey; and Kansas City offensive coordinator Eric Biniemi.
This year, the NFL changed the rules to allow wildcard round assistants to be interviewed during the week of the divisional round in the hope that qualified team candidates who make long postseason runs don’t miss out on the coveted head coaching job. workplaces.
Many of the head coaches who are still alive have faced similar problems before getting the job. Giants coach Brian Daball said it wasn’t difficult to block other job opportunities while coaching a team trying to reach the Super Bowl after passing it last year as the Bills’ offensive coordinator.
“You work really hard to get to this place,” Daboll said. “All the work you’ve done in the off-season, training camp, regular season games, and now your first playoff game as a pro, that’s what you’re focused on.”
After an interview with the Broncos on Thursday night, Ryans was scheduled to face the Texans on Friday. During this process, he is also expected to conduct interviews with Carolina and Arizona as he seeks his first head coaching job.
His Dallas colleague Quinn is due to interview Denver on Friday.
Six years ago, Ryan’s boss Kyle Shanahan went through a similar process when he interviewed San Francisco while in the Super Bowl as offensive coordinator in Atlanta. Former Shanahan offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel went through a job search last postseason and was hired by Miami, and former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh was interviewed for the head coach position during the 2019 playoffs but was only hired through year.
Shanahan is confident Ryans can balance the two.
“When you just make time for it, DeMeco needs to sort of prepare for it, but I think he’s ready for it,” Shanahan said. “When you’re done with them, you immediately go back to the most important thing, and that’s something we’ll find a way to win this Sunday.”
This process is a bit easier for coaches on teams that said goodbye last week, like the Eagles and Chiefs. Their assistants were able to give interviews before this week, and Steichen, Gannon and Binemi were able to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Right now just focused on the giants,” Steichen said this week. “That’s all.”
Some assistants chose to wait before beginning the interview process with the Giants’ Kafka and Martindale, preferring to wait until Saturday’s game against Philadelphia to begin meetings with teams for potential head coaching vacancies.
Martindale handled it the same way three years ago when he was defensive coordinator in Baltimore and finished interviewing Giants owner John Mara for the job that eventually went to Joe Judge.
“I’m honored when they missed because I think getting a head coach in this league is harder than being in the Senate,” Martindale said. “I am honored, but this week we will not have an interview. When I came here as a giant, it was not a stepping stone for me. This was the destination. … To be honest, I was obsessed with Philadelphia. We won’t have an interview this week. I think that when the time comes, if there is still time when we can do it, I would like to sit down and talk to them.”
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AP Pro Football Dennis Waszak Jr. and AP Sports columnist Dan Gelston contributed to this report.
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