FOXBOROUGH — Josh McDaniels wasn’t lying when he said head coaching interviews wouldn’t interfere with his Titans preparation.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, McDaniels won’t be interviewing until next week. He’s expected to sit down with the Panthers, Browns, and Giants on Friday, January 10.

That date makes a lot of sense from a Patriots perspective.

If they advance, New England’s divisional round matchup would be Sunday in Kansas City, so next Friday would just be a walkthrough in Foxborough; McDaniels wouldn’t be missing much. If they’re eliminated, obviously the offensive coordinator will have quite a bit of free time on his hands.

Earlier this week, McDaniels was adamant that his priorities still lie with the Patriots.

“I’m 100% fully invested in getting ready for Tennessee and trying to put our best performance of the season out there on Saturday night,” McDaniels said on a conference call. “We have a lot of work to do. That’s where my focus will be. That’s where it’s at now and it’ll stay there. That’s the best thing for our team. It’s the best thing for me. We’re one of 12 teams that have an opportunity to compete in the postseason. And that’s the only way I’ll ever do it.

"Honestly it’s pretty easy for me in terms of my formula: I’m the offensive coordinator of the Patriots. We have a lot of work to do. We can improve in a lot of areas to try to get ready for this week. It’s our biggest game of the year against certainly the best team we’ve played. This is a postseason game, so our players deserve that, our coaches deserve that, and that’s what they’re going to get from me.”