The Kansas City Chiefs will defend their Super Bowl title in Las Vegas after beating the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC Championship game.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed his first 11 pass attempts and threw for 241 yards and a touchdown, but it was the Chiefs defence which was largely responsible for securing a fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years.

The Ravens were restricted to just 10 points on home soil and quarterback Lamar Jackson was intercepted in the end zone in the fourth quarter as he attempted to round off what would have been a 99-yard drive.

Mahomes told CBS: “God put a lot of adversity in our way this year and we accepted the challenge and we’re better for it.

“It’s been a heck of a year, we’re not done yet, but this is the way to get there.”

The Chiefs had reached the AFC Championship game for a sixth straight season, but did so by winning on the road for the first time with victory at the Buffalo Bills last week.

“We’ve been underdogs for the last few games but we never feel like underdogs,” Mahomes added.

“We’ve got a lot of guys in this team that know how to win and when the play-offs came around I knew we were going to make it happen.

“Now we’re in the Super Bowl and the job’s not done. We’ve got to go out there to Vegas and play a great team and see if we can get the Super Bowl.”

Kansas City, who will bid to become the NFL’s first back-to-back champions since the New England Patriots in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, signalled their attacking intent from the off against the Ravens, refusing to punt on fourth and two on their opening drive.

That allowed Mahomes to keep the drive alive with a 13-yard completion to Travis Kelce – who was watched from the stands once more by girlfriend Taylor Swift – and the same pair combined on a 19-yard touchdown throw to give the Chiefs an early 7-0 lead.

The Ravens responded in kind as Jackson ran for 21 yards on fourth and one from his own 34 and three plays later Jackson hit Zay Flowers from 30 yards to level the scores, only for the Chiefs to compile a 16-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a two-yard touchdown run from Isiah Pacheco.

A frenetic start also included Jackson recording a 13-yard completion to himself after reacting quickest to catch his own pass after it was tipped at the line of scrimmage, but the only other score in the first half – a 52-yard field goal from Harrison Butker – gave the Chiefs a 17-7 lead.

The contest was arguably decided on two key plays at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth, with Flowers squandering the momentum of a 54-yard reception by taunting cornerback L’Jarius Sneed and incurring a 15-yard penalty.

Sneed had the last laugh in the first play of the fourth quarter, punching the ball loose as Flowers dived for the end zone, and when Deon Bush intercepted Jackson on the Ravens’ next drive, the game was effectively over.

The Atlanta Falcons have named Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris as their new head coach ahead of six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick.

Morris is the first full-time black head coach in the franchise’s history after he filled the same role on an interim basis in 2020.

“This is a historic day for the Atlanta Falcons. Raheem emerged from a field of excellent candidates and is the right leader to take our team into the future,” owner Arthur Blank said.

Belichick left the Patriots after finishing the AFC East season with a 4-13 record, bringing an end to his 24-season reign.

Raheem Morris will be getting a second chance with the Atlanta Falcons.

Multiple outlets reported Thursday that the Falcons will hire the Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator as their next head coach following an extensive search that included several high-profile candidates.

Morris returns to Atlanta, where he went 4-7 as the Falcons' interim head coach in 2020 after the team fired Dan Quinn after an 0-5 start. The 47-year-old spent the previous three seasons directing the Rams' defence and helped Los Angeles to a victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI in his first season there.

The Falcons opted not to retain Morris following the 2020 campaign and instead hired former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who went 7-10 in three straight seasons before being dismissed on Jan. 8.

Atlanta chose Morris after interviewing over a dozen candidates that included six-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick and former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who agreed to become the Los Angeles Chargers' head coach on Wednesday.

This will be Morris' second opportunity to be a permanent head coach, as he guided the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-11. The Bucs went 10-6 in his second season at the helm in 2010, but slipped to a 4-12 record the following season and replaced Morris with Greg Schiano.

Morris compiled a 17-31 record in Tampa Bay and is 21-38 overall as an NFL head coach.

Following his dismissal from Tampa Bay, Morris spent three seasons as the defensive backs coach for the Washington Redskins before joining Quinn's staff in Atlanta in 2015. Morris was the wide receivers coach for the Falcons' 2016 NFC championship team that lost to Belichick's New England Patriots in the Super Bowl after infamously blowing a 28-3 lead.

Morris was part of another Super Bowl champion team when he broke into the NFL coaching ranks as a defensive assistant for the Buccaneers in 2002.

The Falcons are the sixth team to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason, and four of those hires have been minority candidates. Morris, New England's Jerod Mayo and Antonio Pierce of the Las Vegas Raiders are all Black, while new Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales is of Mexican descent.

Two teams, the Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks, are still in the process of hiring a head coach.

The Carolina Panthers have agreed to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales to be their next head coach, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday.

Canales will take the reins in Carolina despite having only one year of experience as an NFL coordinator.

Canales will be the seventh head coach for the Panthers since David Tepper took over as owner of the team in 2018.

Carolina fired Frank Reich in late November after a 1-10 start in his first season as head coach and replaced him with special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who went 1-5 down the stretch.

The Panthers’ 2-15 record was the worst in the NFL, but Carolina does not own the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft because that selection was traded to the Chicago Bears as part of the deal that saw the Panthers move up to No. 1 in last year’s draft.

Carolina took quarterback Bryce Young first overall in 2023, and he will now work with Canales after the 42-year-old helped Tampa Bay win the NFC South title and advance to the divisional round of the play-offs this season.

Canales began his NFL coaching career with the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and remained with the club until joining Tampa Bay in February 2023.

In 2022 as Seattle’s quarterbacks coach, Canales worked with Geno Smith en route to the signal-caller winning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is a finalist for the award this season.

Jim Harbaugh wants to win the Super Bowl.

He can't win one coaching in the college ranks.

Harbaugh will reportedly become the next coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, leaving Michigan just over two weeks after leading his alma mater to the NCAA national championship.

The 60-year-old had his second interview with the Chargers on Wednesday and the two sides agreed to a contract, according to multiple sources.

Harbaugh, who played for the Chargers in 1999 and 2000, takes over for a Los Angeles team that fired Brandon Staley on December 15, a day after the Chargers were crushed 63-21 by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Harbaugh was one of the hottest names for a possible head coaching job after many speculated he was looking for a new challenge after achieving the highest level of success at the college ranks.

This will be his second stint coaching in the NFL after he was in charge of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011-2014. In those four seasons, he led the 49ers to three play-off berths, two conference title games and an appearance in the 2012 Super Bowl, where he lost to the Baltimore Ravens, coached by his brother, John.

The Chargers, meanwhile, have only made the play-offs three times in the last 14 seasons, and haven't won the AFC West since 2009.

Harbaugh, who spent the last eight years at Michigan, where he went 86-25, will get to coach one of the NFL's top young quarterbacks in Justin Herbert.

Herbert helped the Chargers to a 10-7 record and play-off berth in 2022, but he broke a finger on his throwing hand late this past season and the team stumbled to a 5-12 finish.

The Tennesee Titans are in the process of finalising a contract with Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to be the team's next head coach, multiple outlets reported Monday.

Callahan will be replacing Mike Vrabel, who led the franchise to three consecutive playoff appearances from 2019-21 but was fired by owner Amy Adams Strunk on Jan. 9 following a second straight losing campaign.

The 39-year-old Callahan spent the past five seasons as the Bengals' offensive coordinator and helped Cincinnati to back-to-back appearances in the AFC championship game in 2021 and 2022. The Bengals defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 edition before losing to the Rams in Super Bowl 56.

Callahan, the son of former NFL and college head coach Bill Callahan, is also credited for assisting in developing Joe Burrow into one of the NFL's premier quarterbacks over the course of the 2020 No. 1 overall pick's four seasons in Cincinnati. 

He'll now be overseeing the progress of a new young quarterback in Tennessee, which selected Will Levis in the second round of the 2023 draft and had the rookie start nine games during Vrabel's final season.

Callahan has been an NFL assistant since 2010. He spent the first six years of his coaching career with the Denver Broncos and was on the offensive staff during that team's 2015 run to a Super Bowl title in iconic quarterback Peyton Manning's final NFL season. 

After stints as a quarterbacks coach with the Detroit Lions (2016-17) and then-Oakland Raiders (2018), Callahan joined the Bengals as part of current head coach Zac Taylor's initial staff in 2019.

Burrow emerged into an elite passer under Callahan's tutelage, as the former Heisman Trophy winner threw for a Bengals' season-record 4,611 passing yards in 2021 and set another team season best with 35 touchdown passes in 2022. Burrow's career completion rate of 68.0 per cent is the highest of any quarterback in NFL history with at least 1,500 pass attempts.

Callahan takes over a Titans team that finished last in the AFC South with a 6-11 record this past season and often struggled to move the football. Tennessee's average of 289 total yards per game ranked 28th in the NFL and it finished 27th in total points.

Three of this offseason's eight head coaching vacancies have now been filled with Callahan's hiring. The New England Patriots promoted assistant Jerod Mayo to replace the legendary Bill Belichick on Jan. 12, while the Las Vegas Raiders removed the interim tag from head coach Antonio Pierce last week. 

The Kansas City Chiefs edged past the Buffalo Bills 27-24 to reach the AFC Championship.

Bills kicker Tyler Bass had an opportunity to level the scores in the final two minutes, but his 44-yard field goal attempt missed to the right.

Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco grabbed the crucial score at the start of the fourth quarter, going in from four yards.

Travis Kelce had earlier caught two touchdown passes from Patrick Mahomes as the lead changed hands five times.

Quarterback Josh Allen ran for two touchdowns for the Bills, as well as connecting with Khalil Shakir from 13 yards.

The Chiefs will now head to the Baltimore Ravens to play in their sixth straight AFC title game.

The Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991 with a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jared Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 74 yards and a score as the Lions, who have never played in a Super Bowl, set up an NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers next weekend.

Ford Field was fired up before kick-off and the atmosphere went up another notch when the first Bucs drive ended with Baker Mayfield throwing an interception into the arms of CJ Gardner-Johnson.

The two teams traded field goals before Detroit got rolling behind rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who had three straight catches of 13, two and 15 yards to get them upfield before Goff threw a nine-yard touchdown to Josh Reynolds.

Tampa Bay responded late in the half, with Mayfield hitting Mike Evans from 29 yards to get the Bucs to the two-yard line before throwing a touchdown pass to Cade Otton.

Detroit were back on top with 3:51 left in the third quarter when they went for it fourth down from a yard out, with Craig Reynolds powering through, but Tampa Bay again found a response at the end of the quarter as an off-balance Mayfield found Rachaad White with a 12-yard touchdown.

The see-saw continued as Gibbs ran in from 31 yards to put Detroit back on top and they finally broke the pattern when Tampa Bay were forced to punt and Goff hit Amon-Ra St Brown with a perfect nine-yard touchdown pass.

The Bucs were not done yet as Evans reeled in a 16-yard touchdown pass and they had the ball back inside the final two minutes, only for Mayfield to be picked off by Derrick Barnes to spark huge celebrations in Detroit.

The Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship game for the first time since 1991 with a 31-23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Jared Goff threw for 287 yards and two touchdowns and Jahmyr Gibbs ran for 74 yards and a score as the Lions, who have never played in a Super Bowl, set up an NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers next weekend.

Ford Field was fired up before kick-off and the atmosphere went up another notch when the first Bucs drive ended with Baker Mayfield throwing an interception into the arms of CJ Gardner-Johnson.

The two teams traded field goals before Detroit got rolling behind rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who had three straight catches of 13, two and 15 yards to get them upfield before Goff threw a nine-yard touchdown to Josh Reynolds.

Tampa Bay responded late in the half, with Mayfield hitting Mike Evans from 29 yards to get the Bucs to the two-yard line before throwing a touchdown pass to Cade Otton.

Detroit were back on top with 3:51 left in the third quarter when they went for it fourth down from a yard out, with Craig Reynolds powering through, but Tampa Bay again found a response at the end of the quarter as an off-balance Mayfield found Rachaad White with a 12-yard touchdown.

The see-saw continued as Gibbs ran in from 31 yards to put Detroit back on top and they finally broke the pattern when Tampa Bay were forced to punt and Goff hit Amon-Ra St Brown with a perfect nine-yard touchdown pass.

The Bucs were not done yet as Evans reeled in a 16-yard touchdown pass and they had the ball back inside the final two minutes, only for Mayfield to be picked off by Derrick Barnes to spark huge celebrations in Detroit.

A late Christian McCaffrey touchdown gave the San Francisco 49ers a 24-21 win over the Green Bay Packers and moved them one win from the Super Bowl.

The 49ers, the number one seeds in the NFC, had trailed 21-14 heading into the fourth quarter.

Jake Moody cut the gap with a 52-yard field goal before McCaffrey crashed his way over from six yards with 67 seconds on the clock.

Brock Purdy’s 32-yard touchdown pass to George Kittle had given the 49ers a 7-6 interval lead, the Packers responding after the break as Jordan Love threw touchdown passes to Bo Melton and Tucker Kraft either side of McCaffrey’s first score of the night.

The 49ers had not come from behind to win throughout the regular season, but Purdy drove them into position for the decisive score after rookie Anders Carlson had missed a field goal from 41 yards for Green Bay.

In the AFC, the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens saw off the Houston Texans 34-10.

Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdown passes, running for two more as the Ravens pulled away in the second half.

The two teams swapped field goals in the first quarter, Jackson finding Nelson Agholor from three yards in the second quarter before Steven Sims’ 67-yard punt return tied things up at 10-10.

Jackson eased the Ravens in front in the third quarter as he ran in on a score from 15 yards.

The Ravens pulled away in the final quarter, Jackson finding Isaiah Likely from 15 yards and going in himself from eight yards. Nick Tucker capped off the victory with a field goal from 43 yards late on.

The Ravens will host the Buffalo Bills or defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, who meet on Monday, in the AFC Championship game.

The 49ers will entertain the Detroit Lions or Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the NFC champions.

The Baltimore Ravens moved to within one win of the Super Bowl as they saw off the Houston Texans 34-10.

Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdown passes, running for two more as the Ravens pulled away in the second half.

The two teams swapped field goals in the first quarter, Jackson finding Nelson Agholor from three yards in the second quarter before Steven Sims’ 67-yard punt return tied things up at 10-10.

Jackson eased the Ravens in front in the third quarter as he ran in on a score from 15 yards.

The number one seeds eased away in the final quarter, Jackson finding Isaiah Likely from 15 yards and going in himself from eight yards. Nick Tucker capped off the victory with a field goal from 43 yards late on.

The Ravens will host the Buffalo Bills or defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.

The Las Vegas Raiders are close to a deal that would remove the interim tag from Antonio Pierce’s title and make him the franchise’s next head coach, multiple media outlets reported Friday.

The move to stick with Pierce comes amid a pivotal coaching carousel cycle with former Patriots legend Bill Belichick and the University of Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh representing the top prizes.

Pierce, however, went 5-4 after he replaced Josh McDaniels mid-season, and many of the Raiders’ best players – including Davante Adams, Maxx Crosby and Josh Jacobs – have publicly lobbied to keep Pierce.

Last weekend, a report surfaced that Crosby would seek a trade if Pierce wasn’t hired as the team’s full-time head coach.

“Why wouldn’t we keep going the direction we’re going?” Crosby said after the Raiders’ final game. “The fact we’ve come together and done something special in such a short time is hard to do.

“We’ve got a guy who’s played at the highest level, won a Super Bowl, he’s been a captain, and now he’s a great coach and he’s a leader.”

Pierce, 45, played nine seasons in the NFL for Washington and the New York Giants. He was a starter on the Giants team that won Super Bowl XLII, beating the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

Among Pierce’s first decisions will be whether to retain interim offensive coordinator Bo Hardegree.

The Raiders face a crossroads at quarterback after Jimmy Garoppolo’s forgettable season. Rookie Aidan O’Connell finished the season as the team’s starter and had eight touchdowns with no interceptions in his last four games.

Las Vegas will also need to decide on the future of running back Josh Jacobs, who ended last summer’s contract dispute after training camp by signing a one-year deal.

“With AP, I am definitely 100 percent in,” Jacobs told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “However it looks, whatever it looks like.”

The Raiders hold the 13th overall pick in April’s draft as they look to return to their title-winning past.

The Dallas Cowboys will not be making a change at coach after all.

The Cowboys announced on Wednesday that Mike McCarthy will return next season.

There had been speculation that McCarthy would lose his job after Sunday's stunning 48-32 wild-card loss to the Green Bay Packers, but he'll return for a fifth season - his final one under his current contract.

"I believe this team is very close and capable of achieving our ultimate goals and the best step forward for us will be with Mike McCarthy as our head coach," Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones said in a statement. "There is great benefit to continuing the team's progress under Mike's leadership as our head coach."

The Cowboys rolled to their second NFC East crown in the past three years in 2023 by finishing 12-5 for the third year in a row. But this season ended like each of the previous two - with a play-off exit before the NFC conference title game.

With the latest post-season defeat, Dallas became the first team to lose to the No. 7 seed since the 14-team play-offs were implemented in 2020.

In four seasons at the helm in Dallas, McCarthy is 42-25. However, he is just 1-3 in the play-offs.

"Mike has the highest regular season winning percentage of any head coach in Cowboys history and we will dedicate ourselves, in partnership with him, to translating that into reaching our post season goals," Jones said.

Dallas hasn't made the conference title game since the 1995 season when it last won the Super Bowl.

"While we're all disappointed with the result on Sunday and with our play-off record, I am 100 percent supportive of him as our head coach and ability to reach our goals," Jones said.

Gloucester boss George Skivington believes that star wing Louis Rees-Zammit’s move to American football is not a “reflection on rugby”.

Rees-Zammit has rocked the rugby world by quitting a sport which brought him 32 Wales caps and a starring role for the British and Irish Lions on their 2021 tour of South Africa.

Wales and Gloucester, though, must now prepare for life without their prolific try-scorer as he heads to the United States, where the NFL’s International Player Pathway awaits him in his quest to forge a new career.

Skivington, though, does not think the sport losing such a box-office figure will start alarm bells ringing.

“I don’t think there are many people who have actually left the sport, really,” he said.

“This happens very rarely – Christian Wade would be the last time someone tried to move in this direction.

“I don’t think it is anything to do with rugby, his (Rees-Zammit’s) decision. It is just something he has always wanted to do.

“I don’t think it is a reflection on rugby at all, I think it is one person’s dream and the opportunity is there.

“I don’t foresee many rugby players going in that direction as a result of it. If it doesn’t work out, he will be back in the game, but I don’t think it is any reflection on rugby itself.”

Skivington confirmed that Gloucester would have discussions with Rees-Zammit, who made his Premiership debut for them as an 18-year-old, if things do not work out in the US.

In the meantime, though, he must plot the remainder of Gloucester’s season without a player whose dazzling try-scoring ability won worldwide admirers.

“We would talk to ‘Zam’ if things fall through, but his mindset is that he won’t be coming back and I think he has to have that mindset to go and do what he is going to try and do,” Skivington added.

“If it all changes, we will see where we are at.

“We would always welcome him back. If he comes back to rugby of course there will be conversations but his mindset as of Monday was very much that he is moving on from rugby and he is going to rip into American football.

“He desperately wants to go and do it and we are not going to stand in the way of someone with what is a pretty unique opportunity.

“He is changing sport. If it doesn’t work out, he might come back to rugby, but his mindset is he is leaving rugby for good.

“He is definitely not taking it lightly. He has got a 10-week programme and then hopefully he gets selected and he gets his foot in the door.

“We all hope he makes it, because it will be a great story if he does.”

Josh Allen’s three touchdown passes and a 57-yard running touchdown of his own led the Buffalo Bills to a 31-17 playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The 27-year-old quarterback threw two touchdown passes in the first quarter to tight end Dawson Knox to give the Bills an early 14-0 lead.

He then produced a scintillating run through the midfield to the end zone to make it a 21-0 lead in the second quarter and make the game seemingly out of reach for Pittsburgh.

A touchdown before half-time and another in the fourth quarter gave Pittsburgh some hope, but the dagger came in the fourth quarter when Allen found Khalil Shakir and he dodged several would-be tackles to make it a two-touchdown game with six minutes left.

The win for the Bills sets up a mouth-watering match against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC divisional round in Buffalo. The number one seed Baltimore Ravens will host the Houston Texans in the other AFC clash.

Former New England Patriots safety Duron Harmon has credited Bill Belichick with helping Tom Brady become the greatest player in NFL history, saying the legendary duo "needed each other".

Belichick and the Patriots parted ways last week, bringing an end to one of the most remarkable coaching tenures in league history.

The 71-year-old led the Patriots for 24 seasons, overseeing 18 playoff visits and taking the team to nine Super Bowls, winning six of those showpiece games with the most recent coming in 2019.

However, New England missed the playoffs in three of their last four seasons under Belichick, prompting team owner Robert Kraft to replace his long-serving coach with former linebackers coach Jerod Mayo.

Some have suggested Belichick's failure to win a Super Bowl without Brady diminishes his achievements somewhat, with the coach's overall NFL record without the quarterback standing at 85-102, but Harmon does not subscribe to that view.

"I think both those guys are motivated by one thing; being the best they can each and every day," Harmon – who played for Belichick's Patriots between 2013 and 2019 – told Stats Perform.

"Tom's job would be to be the best quarterback and rally his team. Bill's job was to be the best head coach and rally his team as well, and to make sure the coaches understand his vision so they can pass it to the players and put the best product on the field. 

"It's easy to try to put those two against each other, but I think at the end of the day, they needed each other. 

"They understand that they couldn't have accomplished what they accomplished in New England without each other.

"I think there's a great amount of respect that they have for each other. I'm still grateful and appreciative that I got to be around the greatest quarterback and the greatest head coach of all time."

Brady did manage to win one more title after he and Belichick parted ways in 2020, collecting his seventh ring by leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to glory at Super Bowl LV.

Harmon does not believe Brady was motivated by a desire to prove he could succeed without Belichick, saying: "I truly don't believe he needs any extra motivation. 

"This guy wanted to be the best player that he can be every day, whether it was with the Buccaneers, whether it was with the Patriots, he just wants to get the best out of himself every day. 

"I don't think it was, 'I want to prove I could do this without Bill', I think more so it was just him going to Tampa and doing what he does. 

"The thing that people don't realise, and I know Tom was always a great competitor, but the cultural style that came from Bill to him is what I believe gave him that extra motivation, that extra push to make Tom truly who he is. 

"As a young player, when he first took from Drew Bledsoe [in 2001], it was a very veteran-based team, so he wanted to gain the respect of not only the players, but also Bill Belichick. 

"Bill pushed him as best he could to be the best that he could be, and in the end, he became the best ever."

Having won three Super Bowls in six years in New England, Harmon is uniquely placed to offer an insight into the relationship between Belichick and Brady at the height of the Patriots' dominance.

"It was like yin and yang. It was Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson. Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson," he recalled.

"I was fortunate enough to be captain one year with the Patriots and saw how they interacted in the captains' meeting and how they were always on the same page. 

"There were times when Bill got on Tom in front of everybody, and it wasn't to demean Tom, but it was to let everybody know that there is a standard in this organisation, it doesn't matter who you are, whether you're the best player or you're the last guy on the practice squad. 

"Seeing those guys work together allowed me to see what that head coach-quarterback partnership is supposed to look like at the highest level."