BY NICK ST. DENIS
The Patriots aren't worried about offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien being distracted by his new gig at Penn State, at least according to coach Bill Belichick.
O'Brien (pictured) was named head coach of the Nittany Lions two weeks ago to fill the void left by the recently-deceased Joe Paterno, who was fired in November.
"Billy has continued to do in the last few weeks, everything -- since he's been named the head coach of Penn State, he's done everything that he's done this year and last year on a weekly basis," Belichick told the media via conference call Tuesday. "He's had the same responsibilities; he's just worked very hard to try to manage the two situations.
"By far and away, the majority of his time and energy and effort have all been put into the New England Patriots. He's done his fulltime job here well and very diligently, just like he always has; there hasn't been any difference."
Either way, New England is glad to have Josh McDaniels, who was hired by the Patriots as an offensive assistant following the regular season. McDaniels served as the Patriots offensive coordinator before O'Brien and will take over that role at the conclusion of the Super Bowl.
"He (McDaniels) and I had a good working relationship; it's great to have him back," Belichick said. "... Josh has a lot of experience. He knows our players. He knows our system. Again, we, Billy and Josh work together. Josh and I work together, Dante [Scarnecchia], Ivan [Fears].
"There's a lot of background and history there that has pretty quickly come together, come up to speed and everybody has their roles that they've had and Josh has just added a little bit more to that by his presence but it hasn't taken away from anything that everybody else has been doing; it's just added to it."
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