INDIANAPOLIS -- The Detroit Lions naming New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia their head coach on Monday left the Indianapolis Colts as the only team with a head coaching vacancy. That changed Tuesday morning when the Colts announced the hiring of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their head coach.

And while the Colts had to wait more than five weeks to name McDaniels, it very well could end up being worth the wait for them.

McDaniels will no longer have Tom Brady, arguably the NFL’s greatest quarterback, at his disposal, but one thing the new Colts coach has proven is that he has the ability to adapt to different situations.

That was evident in the past two Super Bowls and this season’s AFC Championship Game, when the Patriots were hit with three different moments of adversity.

Everybody knows about the Patriots being down 28-3 to the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. New England’s style of play changed in the second half. They gained 217 of their 274 yards through the air in the second half, when they came back to tie the game and eventually won it in overtime. They ran the ball only nine times and Brady completed passes to nine players in the second half.

McDaniels' play-calling was put to the test in the second half of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against Jacksonville, when the Patriots lost tight end Rob Gronkowski in the first half due to a concussion and trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter. They had to move the ball against one of the NFL’s stingiest defenses. Brady threw for 138 yards, completing five passes for at least 15 yards, and two touchdowns in the final quarter against a Jacksonville defense that gave up an NFL-low 170 passing yards per game in the regular season.

And in Sunday’s Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, Brady, despite the loss of speedy receiver Brandin Cooks, threw for a record 505 yards.

McDaniels doesn’t try to put a square peg into a round hole when it comes to schemes. He has the coaching and play-calling ability to adjust the scheme to fit what’s best for the players he has. So one can’t assume the Colts will be a quick-throwing team under McDaniels just because that was his style in New England. Don’t forget, Andrew Luck is a quarterback who likes to throw the ball deep down the field.

I asked ESPN Patriots reporter Mike Reiss, who has covered McDaniels and the team for many years, for some insight into the next Colts coach.

“Josh McDaniels’ strongest attributes are his play-calling, knowledge of personnel, the ability to morph game plans on a week-to-week basis to attack what is perceived to be the opponents’ weaknesses, and developing and getting the best out of quarterbacks,” Reiss said. “Look at what Jimmy [Garoppolo] did in San Francisco and that is, in many ways, a credit to McDaniels. His offenses will have a lot of things at their disposal. There will always be an up-tempo aspect to the attack. But a fullback is also important because it helps dictate matchups, and McDaniels has a nice stroke of knowing how to manipulate favorable matchups through personnel groupings.”