Even before the Patriots officially announced Josh McDaniels' return to New England, and prior to Denver's upset of the Steelers to earn a spot in this Saturday night's divisional game at Gillette Stadium, some in Denver were unhappy with the idea of their former head coach joining the postseason mix with another of his former employers.

Clearly the idea of an assistant coach from one team joining another during the current year's postseason is a unique one. But the situation with the Patriots, Penn State, Bill O'Brien and McDaniels is also a unique one.

How often does an assistant take a college job while his current NFL team is playing in the playoffs?

How often does that NFL team's former offensive coordinator find himself in employment limbo and willing to return to his former team for his former job?

The answer is almost never.

But that didn't stop a Denver Post writer from blogging recently that the Broncos should protest to the league and commissioner Roger Goodell against the re-hiring off McDaniels in New England.

Mike Klis wrote an online entry on Friday, one day before the Patriots officially re-hired McDaniels, entitled, "Broncos, playoff teams should officially protest Josh McDaniels hire in New England" that appeared on the Post's First-and-Orange blog.

Wrote Klis:

"Once again, Bill Belichick has figured out a way to cheat the system. And once again, he caught the NFL standing there sucking their collective thumbs.

"There may be no rule against McDaniels working immediately for the Pats. But this clearly violates the spirit of fair competition. It's so Belichick. It's so McDaniels, for that matter.