Lombardi on D&C: Expect McDaniels return

NFL Network analyst Michael Lombardi made his weekly appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show Friday morning. The big news in New England is that Patriots offensive coordinator Billy O'Brien reportedly will become the next head coach at Penn State.

"I do think in his heart he's a college coach," Lombardi said. "He loves college football."

As for the challenge O'Brien faces at Penn State, Lombardi said: "It's definitely going to be an uphill battle. It's going to be a challenge. I'm hoping Penn State understands the challenge, and I'm hoping they're going to give him some time and know that these atrocious events that happened up there aren't going to go away over a weekend. It's going to take some time, and it's going to take some confidence. And it's going to take a little bit of patience on the part of Penn State.

"I think they did the right thing by going with someone who has no lineage to Penn State whatsoever. I think that was the first smart play they could make. And I think Billy's got to put a staff together that has no lineage to Penn State."

Before he leaves for Happy Valley, O'Brien will help the Patriots prepare for a postseason run.

"I'm sure Bill [Belichick] will give him some help," he said. "I'm sure Bill's got a plan already in place to make sure there's someone that can come in and possibly help and kind of move forward and give him some ideas and pick up some of the areas that you just can't seem to get away from.

"I don't think sleep's going to be an option for Bill O'Brien in the next month."

Josh McDaniels, the former Patriots assistant who left to become head coach of the Broncos but didn't last long, is rumored to be a candidate to replace O'Brien.

"I think there's a pretty good chance of that. I really do," Lombardi said. "I think the world of Josh. I think Josh is an outstanding coach. I think Josh went to a place like Denver that didn't understand a lot of the things he was trying to get done there, much like when [Belichick] went to Cleveland with me and struggled [in the] early part of the career, even though we won later there.

"I think Josh will come back, and I think it's the best thing for Josh to do that, because I think he gets back in an environment that he's really most comfortable with, around a quarterback that's comfortable with him, and he's comfortable with the quarterback."

Following are more highlights from the interview.

On Sunday's Steelers-Broncos game: "I can't see Pittsburgh losing to [Tim] Tebow time. I can't. But I was talking to Phil Simms yesterday, and he was giving me 20 reasons why he thinks Denver is going to give them a good game. And every time I think there's a way a team can't win, there's always something that happens.

"I think Pittsburgh has to lose the game. I don't think Denver's going to be able to win the game. Unless Big Ben [Roethlisberger] can't really move around, and the speed of Denver's defense can get to him and cause some problems. Pittsburgh hasn't scored a lot of points in the last three weeks. And part of that is because Ben's been unhealthy. I think if Ben can't move around, it's going to be a problem."

On a potential Steelers-Patriots matchup: "The Patriots, they have struggled to slow a good passing game down. And I think Big Ben obviously will give them some troubles like he did in Pittsburgh. And then I think New England's got to find a cure for what Pittsburgh did to them defensively. New England usually has a very good handle on Pittsburgh, but when they changed their style and went to more press man, I think it kind of messed up New England, messed up [Tom] Brady a little bit early in that game, kind of got them behind.

"Pittsburgh's goal in that game completely was to play with the lead. They wanted to start the game, they wanted to make New England play from behind, which they did. But I think it will be a much better game than it was obviously in Pittsburgh, even though New England made that game closer. Pittsburgh could beat them, but I also think that New England is not going play as badly as they did offensively in Pittsburgh."

To hear the interview, go to the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page. For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots.