EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The New York Giants interviewed New England Patriots assistant coach Joe Judge for their vacant head coaching job on Monday.

The 38-year-old Judge has been a part of five championship teams, winning three Super Bowls with the Patriots and two college football titles with Alabama.

Judge is the fifth candidate the Giants have interviewed since firing Pat Shurmur last week.

The Patriots’ special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach met with co-owner John Mara, General Manager Dave Gettleman, Vice President of Football Operations Kevin Abrams at the team’s headquarters in New Jersey.

The Giants are also expected to interview Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Baylor Coach Matt Rhule this week.

Judge has coached for 15 years, including the past eight with New England. He was part of the staffs that helped the team to Super Bowls titles in the 2014, ’16 and ’18 seasons. He had won titles with the Crimson Tide in 2009 and ’11. He has also coached at Mississippi State and Birmingham-Southern.

RAMS: Veteran defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was fired by the Los Angeles Rams after three winning seasons.

Phillips announced on Twitter that the Rams are not renewing his contract, and the team later confirmed it. The 72-year-old former head coach of a record six NFL teams says he wants to stay in coaching.

The Rams finished 9-7 this season, missing the playoffs for the first time in Phillips’ three-year partnership with Sean McVay.

Although Phillips’ distinctive 3-4 defense led by Aaron Donald again finished near the top of the NFL in many advanced metrics this season, McVay has decided to shake up his coaching staff for a third consecutive offseason.

McVay offered no reasoning for his decision in a brief statement issued through the team.

BROWNS: Brian Daboll, who got his first offensive coordinator position in the NFL with the Browns under Eric Mangini, interviewed for Cleveland’s coaching job.

After a one-day break, the Browns resumed their search by meeting with Daboll, who just completed his second season as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator.

Daboll was Cleveland’s offensive coordinator under Mangini in 2009-10. The Browns went a combined 10-22 in those two seasons and shuffled through a long list of quarterbacks, including Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy.

TELEVISION: The NFL wild-card playoff games were the most watched opening weekend in four years.

The four games averaged 30.5 million viewers, which was a 7% increase over last season, boosted by one-score finishes, including a pair that went into overtime.

Seattle’s 17-9 victory over Philadelphia on NBC – which was the final game of the weekend – drew the most viewers as it averaged 35.8 million, according to Nielsen and Abode Analytics.

That also makes it television’s most-watched show since last year’s Super Bowl.