`Action Jackson' provides Bills 1-2 running punch
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- If Marshawn Lynch goes by something he calls `Beast Mode' to describe his ability to plow through defenders, perhaps it's time backup Fred Jackson got a nickname of his own.
"Ha, ha. I really haven't come up with anything," Jackson said as the Buffalo Bills prepare to play at Arizona on Sunday. "The only thing that I've seen consistently is `Action Jackson."
Jackson then paused before adding, "Beast Action," to describe the one-two punch he and Lynch are providing the Bills running attack.
It might not be as catchy as, say, `Thunder and Lightning,' but Jackson's emergence as a capable compliment to Lynch has helped revitalize what had been a sputtering offense last year. Together, they've combined for 567 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns in helping the Bills (4-0) get off to their best start in 16 years.
"I joke with Marshawn and tell him to go out there and soften them up for me and I'll try to finish them off," said Jackson, whose 22-yard touchdown run in a 31-14 win against St. Louis last weekend was his first career score, and also the Bills' longest run from scrimmage this season.
"I was very determined," Jackson said, describing how he punched his way up the middle and dived the final 3 yards into the end zone. "Guys talk about how you can smell the end zone. It was in sight and I knew I wanted to get there."
Jackson has certainly arrived.
Lynch is the workhorse, but Jackson's role is increasing in only his second NFL season.
He has 118 yards rushing on 28 carries and 11 catches for 93 yards. Jackson's best game came in helping secure Buffalo's 20-16 comeback victory at Jacksonville in Week 2, when he had a team-best 83 yards receiving and 17 yards rushing.
The Bills so much like Jackson as a dual threat that they have occasionally used both him and Lynch on the field at the same time to keep defense's guessing.
"Watching him play is a treat to see," receiver Lee Evans said. "He's a spark. He can do it all. And Marshawn can do it all, too. You put them both in the backfield and the defense has decisions to make."
An undrafted free agent out of Division III Coe College, Jackson broke into the NFL in 2006 on the Bills practice squad. He made the Bills active roster last year, and began catching the team's attention in November when Lynch missed three games with an ankle injury and while backup Dwayne Wright struggled as an interim starter.
Jackson showed enough spark to earn a start, in which he had 82 yards rushing and 69 yards receiving in a 17-16 win at Washington.
The Lynch-Jackson connection was secured the following week when Lynch had 107 yards rushing in his first game back and Jackson added 115 yards in a 38-17 win over Miami.
That was enough for coordinator Turk Schonert to spend the offseason devising ways of getting both running backs involved.
"He and Marshawn are very, very similar and it showed last year," Schonert said. "I was real excited about having those two guys in the backfield at the same time."
Jackson's rise was not an easy one, and a testament to his perseverance after he barely got a sniff from NFL teams following his senior year at Coe College in 2002.
The Iowa school, though, just happened to be the alma mater of former Bills coach and Hall-of-Famer Marv Levy, who became aware of Jackson's potential in the player's junior year. The two established a rapport and Levy counseled Jackson to continue playing football -- even if it meant the arena leagues -- to attract attention.
Jackson followed that advice, playing two seasons in Sioux City of the United Indoor Football League, and was named the league's offensive player of the year in 2005.
When Levy took over as the Bills general manager in 2006, he didn't forget about Jackson. He invited the player in for a workout, and Jackson impressed the coaches.
"Coach Levy had everything to do with me getting here," Jackson said. "He came back and he was true to his word, he gave me a shot."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
QB's job on line when winless Browns, Bengals play
CINCINNATI -- Derek Anderson threw away the Cleveland Browns' playoff chances the last time he came to town. The stakes are even higher for the return trip.
Anderson's job -- and perhaps the Browns' chances for a turnaround -- are on the line Sunday when the "Battle of Ohio" resumes in a new form, more of a "Weekend of the Winless." The Browns and Bengals are both 0-3 and tottering on the verge of early elimination in the AFC North, where it may not take a lot of wins to get a title.
An 0-4 start probably won't get it done, though.
"I think whoever wins this game is not totally out of it," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "Everybody is playing tough teams, so it's not over, probably, by a long shot. So if you can get a division win, you're not out of it."
Lose, and it's a whole different matter. Think it's ugly along the shores of Lake Erie and the Ohio River? Just wait for one more loss.
History would begin to beckon.
The Browns haven't started 0-4 since 1999, their first year back in the league as an expansion team. Tim Couch led the overmatched Browns to a 2-14 finish that season, the start of a tough stretch. Cleveland has made only one playoff appearance since its return, a 9-7 record in 2002 was good enough for a wild-card berth and a first-round loss to Pittsburgh.
Think the Dawg Pound is riled up now? Center Hank Fraley has already gotten a taste of the fans' feelings on his weekly radio show.
"I had one (caller) after the second game. He said, 'Tell Romeo to kick another field goal," Fraley said. "I just laughed at him. I was like, 'All right, I will.' As fans, you should be frustrated. We're frustrated with you guys. We're 0-3 and we want to do better for this city."
Crennel won't let the bad go on too long Sunday.
The Browns were on the verge of making the playoffs last season when they came to Cincinnati for the second-to-last game. Anderson had one of the worst games of his career, matching his career high with four interceptions in a 19-14 loss that ultimately kept Cleveland out of the playoffs.
In the first three games this season, Anderson has played more like he did that game in Cincinnati. He has completed only 46 percent of his throws with two touchdowns, five interceptions and a dismal passer rating of 43.5.
Anderson thinks he's not too far off his game.
"Just a little better timing, a little better location. Little things," Anderson said. "It's not miraculous. We don't have to change a ton."
His coach is ready to drop a big change on him. If Anderson struggles against the Bengals, Brady Quinn will get into his second NFL game. Quinn, a first-round pick last season, played one series in Cleveland's final game last year.
"Quinn is going to be ready," Crennel said. "I told the team this morning. I also told them I am not answering questions about what, when, why, how, how many -- what-if kind of questions as it relates to the quarterback."
By saying Quinn was ready, the coach answered the main question.
The only question about the Bengals' quarterback is if he'll make it through the game without a bloody nose for a change. Carson Palmer broke his nose in the preseason, and had it bloodied again in a 26-23 overtime loss to the Giants that seemed to get the offense back in form.
Palmer was sacked six times by the Giants. He's been sacked nine times overall in three games, and hit frequently when he's gotten rid of the ball. Besides the bloody noses, Palmer has been hobbled by a sprained ankle, the result of another hit.
"I think I'm built for that," he said. "Being 245 pounds, it gives me a little extra cushion for when those big guys are laying on you. But in no way do I want to get sacked six times. I really don't think it will happen again."
Despite the pain, Palmer led the offense in a breakout game that restored a little confidence. The offense had only one touchdown in the first two games.
"I think our offense is going to start rolling," receiver Chad Ocho Cinco said. "It picked up this week and as the weeks keep going, it's going to continue to pick up. It was right there Sunday. I mean, we haven't really been explosive as we normally are, but it's right there. Sunday was a start. I doubt if we go backward."
Another loss would send them back into their bad history. Cincinnati hasn't opened a season 0-4 since 2002, when it went a franchise-worst 2-12 and fired coach Dick LeBeau. It would be their fourth 0-4 start since 1999, leaving fans with the feeling that the bad old days are certainly back.
Unlike in Cleveland, where the coach and quarterback are taking the brunt of things, the front office is the main target in Cincinnati. Fans realize coach Marvin Lewis has job security with two years left on his contract. At some point, Lewis may decide he wants out, but an 0-4 start won't jeopardize his job.
"I don't think it has any bearing on my future," Lewis said. "It's serious to me, but it's got nothing to do with my future. And if it does, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.
"My future doesn't cause me any worry, OK?"
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Jets' defense wary of Chargers' explosive offense
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Kris Jenkins has perfected his cross-country flight routine.
The New York Jets' nose tackle will take his own pillow aboard the plane, stretch his big body across a row of seats and try to sleep. Or watch a movie. And if that doesn't work, the jokester will try to crack up some of his teammates.
"You're looking out the window wondering why you're up so high and everything looks so small," Jenkins said Thursday. "There are a lot of different things that go through your head. You have a lot of time to do nothing. It's cool, and at least we get to head out there early to kind of stretch our legs and get over the jet lag."
The Jets will take any extra help they can get when they head to San Diego on Saturday for their game Monday night, the first of four West Coast trips they'll take this season.
It'll be back to work soon after they land, and they'll finish up preparations for a Chargers team that has started 0-2 after two tough losses.
"They very easily could be 2-0," linebacker Calvin Pace said. "They've put up a lot of points and they just haven't had the ball bounce their way. I think they went through that last year, too, and then strung together five in a row, so they're definitely capable of putting some wins together."
The Jets just hope a winning streak doesn't start with them. The defense has played well in New York's first two games, but knows San Diego's offense presents the sort of firepower that most teams can only wish for.
"They've definitely got a lot of weapons," Pace said. "It's one of those things where you have to be on your P's and Q's and know who's on the field and try to limit them."
That's much easier said than done. The Chargers have scored 62 points in their losses to Carolina and Denver -- both in the closing moments -- and that's even with running back LaDainian Tomlinson slowed by a bad toe.
"It's one of those situations where, who do you stop?" Pace said. "They've got a lot of guys they can put out there and they've got a lot of capable backups they could put out there if somebody goes down."
Such as speedy Darren Sproles, who stepped in for Tomlinson last week and had a career day by piling up 317 all-purpose yards.
"He's just as dangerous as Tomlinson as a player," defensive end Kenyon Coleman said. "I know it's great when you have a guy who can come in and you know there's no dropoff. That's what you get with Sproles, definitely."
Quarterback Philip Rivers is also off to a terrific start, throwing for 594 yards and six touchdowns and just one interception, and has been sacked just twice. Wide receiver Vincent Jackson has nine catches, tight end Antonio Gates has eight, and three of receiver Chris Chambers' five receptions have been for touchdowns.
That's certainly a dynamic combination to be wary of.
"We can't let him sit back there and be comfortable and have all day to throw," Pace said. "He's a very smart guy and he's going to take what you give him, and he's capable of making a big throw downfield. It's just about disrupting him and disrupting his offense."
The Jets have done a good job of that with their first two opponents. The defense ranks eighth overall and its eight sacks are tied with Tennessee for second in the league. New York is also among the league leaders by allowing just 76.5 yards rushing per game.
"You don't see a lot of busts, a lot of people running wide open and people just pouring through their defense in the run game," Rivers said. "It's a solid defense and a fundamentally sound group that gives you a lot of different looks. It's certainly going to be a challenge, and I'm not just saying that."
Jenkins has had perhaps the biggest impact on the Jets' defense this season, taking over at nose tackle despite having very little experience at the position in his previous seven seasons with Carolina. In the Jets' 3-4 defensive scheme, a space-eating run-stopping big man is required, and the 6-foot-4, 350-pound Jenkins has been the perfect fit so far.
"He's standing right there in the middle, but, he's the anchor of that defense and, to me, he's where it all starts," Rivers said. "You see some of the havoc he's caused in the run game and even the passing game."
New York is going to need Jenkins to get up close and personal with Rivers early and often, or the Jets could be in for a long night against a team some believe is desperate for a win.
"Regardless of whatever's said and whatever the hype is, it's going to be a football game," Jenkins said. "I don't put a spin on it. Other people might, but that's not my job. I just go out and play."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Cardinals look to go 2-0 for first time since '91
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Prosperity has been a mirage in the desert for the Arizona Cardinals.
Negative historical statistics abound for a franchise that has had one winning season since it moved from St. Louis in 1988.
Here's one of them:
On Sunday when they face the Miami Dolphins, the Cardinals have a chance to start a season 2-0 for the first time since 1991.
The current Arizona players scoff at any significance of winning the first two games, though.
"It definitely has nothing to do with pretty much anybody in this facility," defensive end Travis LaBoy said.
The Cardinals, coming off a 23-13 opening victory at San Francisco, are favored by nearly a touchdown against a Miami team that played the New York Jets tough before losing 20-14 at home last weekend in the debut of coach Tony Sparano.
Maybe it was an encouraging first effort for a drastically changed team, but it was no moral victory for the players.
"No, we're not happy about almost winning a game," Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter said.
Sparano is a good friend of Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt from their days as assistant coaches for the 1999 expansion Cleveland Browns. The Miami coach finds himself facing the same situation Whisenhunt did a year ago in Arizona -- developing a winning attitude on a franchise that's down and out.
The Dolphins bring a 10-game road losing streak to Arizona.
"It's not something that happens overnight, but it's something from the time I walked in the door here we've been talking an awful lot about," Sparano said. "You're trying to change an entire culture."
The Dolphins abandoned the running game last week in favor of the passing of new Miami quarterback Chad Pennington, facing the Jets team that released him in favor of Brett Favre 3½ weeks earlier. The Dolphins ran the ball 17 times compared with 43 passes.
This week, though, the Cardinals expect Miami to go more to backs Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown. San Francisco's Frank Gore was effective against Arizona in the opener, especially in the first half.
"They've got two dynamic backs, two horses, and a good O-line," LaBoy said, "so we've got to load up the box and stop that run."
Arizona wants to build off its dominating second half at San Francisco, when it ran 45 plays to the 49ers' 15. First, the Cardinals came out passing the ball to take the lead, then they ground out a 10-minute drive to clinch the victory.
"I think our entire offense is comfortable with the way we won that game," Whisenhunt said, "but that being said we're going to do whatever we have to do to win. If it means we have to throw it 50 times this week to win. ... then that's what we'll do."
That would be great to Kurt Warner, who has had to tone down his gunslinger instincts to fit in with Whisenhunt's offense. He has two of the game's best receivers in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin.
The 37-year-old Warner will be the No. 1 target of the Miami defense.
"We just can't let him get back there and stay comfortable," Porter said. "We have to show him different looks. I know he's seen them all, but at the same time we have to keep people in his face."
The Cardinals benefited from five San Francisco turnovers, a fact not lost on the Dolphins, who will have to replace starting rookie guard Donald Thomas, out for the season with a foot injury.
Second-year pro Ikechuku Ndukwe is the likely replacement.
Pennington will face a defense far different from the one he saw last week. He called it an "attack-style."
"They fly around the football, all 11 guys," Pennington said. "You'll see six, seven, eight guys around the football, and they're shooting gaps and darting in and out."
The Cardinals once had the most pitiful home crowds in the NFL. But now they boast a boisterous throng in their state-of-the-art stadium that was host to the Super Bowl last season. They were 6-2 at home last year, finishing the season with victories over Atlanta and St. Louis to wind up with an 8-8 record.
"First of all, it energizes our football team," Whisenhunt said. "Second of all, it makes it very difficult for the opponents to play."
The Dolphins found it difficult to play anywhere last season, finishing a woeful 1-15 before bringing in Bill Parcells to oversee the daunting rebuilding effort.
Offensive coordinator Dan Henning said Parcells is motivated to add to his legacy by transforming the Dolphins from his front-office desk.
"If he can get these guys to do it the way he thinks it ought to be done, then gets it done," Henning said, "I think he'll be a very content man."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Crucial losses to SF add motivation for Cards
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The San Francisco 49ers won five games a year ago. Two of them came against Arizona, excruciatingly close losses that prevented the Cardinals from winning a spot in the playoffs.
Those games are fresh memories to the Cardinals as they prepare for the season opener Sunday at San Francisco.
"It definitely lingers," Arizona Pro Bowl wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald said after practice Wednesday. "... When we had our last team meeting (a year ago), we looked at those two games and we're 10-6 going to the playoffs. We let those two games slip away."
Arizona opened its season in San Francisco a year ago, too, the debut of the Cardinals under coach Ken Whisenhunt.
Arizona took a 17-13 lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Leinart to Anquan Boldin with 6:40 to play. The 49ers needed an 86-yard scoring drive to win it behind quarterback Alex Smith, who had an awful game until then.
San Francisco had it fourth-and-1 on the Cardinals 45 with 1:43 to play when Smith ran 25 yards to the 20. Three plays later, on third-and-13 at the 23, Smith threw to Arnaz Battle, who fumbled into the end zone at the 1.
The Cardinals' Eric Green misplayed a chance to recover it and the ball went back to the 1. Battle scored from there on an end-around with 22 seconds left to give San Francisco the win.
The rematch came in Game 11 in Glendale on Nov. 25.
Kurt Warner, who had replaced the injured Leinart five games into the season, directed an 81-yard drive to the San Francisco 1 where Neil Rackers' 19-yard field goal as the fourth quarter ended forced overtime.
Rackers made a 25-yard field goal that would have been the winner in overtime, but it was nullified by a delay-of-game penalty. Pushed 5 yards back, Rackers missed the subsequent 32-yard attempt.
The game finally ended when Warner fumbled in the Arizona end zone. The 49ers' Tully Banta-Cain pounced on the ball for the winning score.
Little wonder those losses stand out like a neon sign in Las Vegas on a schedule that had Arizona finishing 8-8.
"We've been thinking about that all offseason," linebacker Karlos Dansby said. "We're dialed up for this one and we're ready to go. We've got a lot of motivation."
Warner will be back at the controls on Sunday with Leinart on the bench. Smith won't be starting, either. He was beat out by J.T. O'Sullivan in the preseason.
Whisenhunt tried to minimize the impact of the two losses a year ago.
"There were a lot of games like that," he said. "I don't think we can focus on those two. I think the Washington game was another one like that, even the Baltimore game. Any one of those games that we could have won at the end could have made the difference."
The only reason the San Francisco losses meant more was that the 49ers are a division foe, Whisenhunt said.
"That was the only thing that was difficult," he said. "But we had a lot of close games last year."
But those two came against a San Francisco team that 10 other NFL squads were able beat.
"You know what, it doesn't matter in the NFL," Whisenhunt insisted. "It doesn't matter what an opponent's record is on any given week. It's hard to win in this league."
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
Favre one step closer to desert
GREEN BAY, Wis. Standing in the middle of powdery Lambeau Field on Saturday evening, snow falling steadily on his sweat-covered jersey, Seattle Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney got a heartfelt hug he'll always remember.
Kerney, one of the league's top performers in 2007, had been powerless to prevent the latest and most picturesque episode of the Brett Favre Masterpiece Theatre, and now he was locked in an embrace with the man who had just ended his season in a memorable divisional playoff clash.
"Amazing," Kerney said a few seconds later as Favre trotted off toward the end zone tunnel and the delirious fans above it. "Just amazing. Who he is. And what he does."
What Favre did Saturday leading the Green Bay Packers back from a lightning-quick 14-point deficit, playing with brilliance and effervescence in a 42-20 victory that vaulted the Pack to its first NFC championship game appearance in a decade ranked right up there with the greatest accomplishments of his glorious 17-year career. In completing 18 of 23 passes for 173 yards and three touchdowns, Favre treated 72,168 fans and millions of toastier, TV-watching admirers a thrill that sent chills down even the most hardened of spines.
It was a scene right out of "It's a Wonderful Life," and one the 38-year-old quarterback always had anticipated but never had attained. "All these years I played here, and I've never had one of those snow games where it's really coming down and the field is covered," Favre said afterward. "I've been hoping for that for 17 years."
After arriving at the stadium four hours before kickoff, Favre put on his uniform pants and an undershirt and sat in a meeting room watching film of the Seahawks and, every few minutes, checking The Weather Channel and some local Green Bay stations for updated forecasts. Every talking head stuck to the same story if it was going to snow, it would be brief and light.
Those predictions turned out to be as inaccurate as the ones virtually everyone made about the Packers before the '07 season the league's youngest team was expected, at best, to have a chance to sneak into the playoffs.
Oops. After Saturday they are 14-3, with only the winner of Sunday's game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants standing between Favre and a third Super Bowl appearance. If he leads the Packers to victory next Sunday, Favre will be the sentimental favorite in Super Bowl XLII in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 3.
As for this week, Favre thought to himself, Just give us one of those snow games as he watched the forecasts prior to kickoff. His motivation wasn't merely aesthetic. "There is no doubt in my mind the conditions were favorable to us," he said later, noting that the Packers have a more balanced attack than the run-challenged Seahawks.
Then the game began, and the script took an unexpected and seemingly perilous turn.
On Green Bay's first play from scrimmage, Favre threw a swing pass to halfback Ryan Grant, who was hit by Seattle linebacker Leroy Hill behind the line of scrimmage and fumbled. Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu recovered for the Seahawks and ran the ball to the 1-yard line, and Shaun Alexander ran it in on the next play for a 7-0 lead.
On the Packers' next possession, Grant, who had one fumble in 218 regular-season touches, coughed it up a second time after a hit from Seattle safety Brian Russell. Cornerback Jordan Babineaux recovered at the Green Bay 49-yard line, and Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (Favre's former backup) engineered a six-play touchdown drive, finding Bobby Engram in the back of the end zone with just 4:01 gone from the first quarter.
It was so quiet, you could hear a snowflake fall.
As Grant sat on the sideline, worrying whether he irrevocably had blown his chance to shine in his first playoff game, Packers coach Mike McCarthy and his assistants discussed whether they should pull the young runner for a couple of series to let him collect himself, according to a Packers player.
Favre, who later would join Joe Montana as the only players to exceed 5,000 career postseason passing yards, sidled up to the shellshocked halfback and told him to shake it off. "It's not like I gave him some win-one-for-the-Gipper speech," Favre said.
What, exactly, did the great quarterback say to Grant: "Who gives a (expletive)? We're gonna keep handing it to you, so forget about it and keep running hard."
To say Grant listened would be a huge understatement. The first-year starter carried 27 times for 201 yards the most ever by a Packers back in the team's long postseason history and three touchdowns. It was one of the great bounce-backs in recent NFL memory.
"He didn't have any choice," Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said. "We were gonna kick his ass if he didn't."
With Favre throwing pinpoint passes and moving better in the pocket than any 38-year-old man should have a right to, the Pack got back into the game quickly. The first of Favre's two touchdown passes to wideout Greg Jennings, a crisp 15-yard sideline throw, closed the gap to 14-7 midway through the first quarter, and a 1-yard touchdown run by Grant tied it up six minutes later.
Another gorgeous Favre to Jennings TD gave the Packers the lead early in the second quarter, and the Seahawks responded by closing the gap to 21-17 on Josh Brown's 29-yard field goal. Favre drove the Packers down into scoring position again and, with a little more than a minute remaining in the half, provided one of those "Oh No He Didn't" moments.
On third-and-8 from the Seattle 14, Favre hurried to get his team properly aligned against the Seahawks' menacing front, moving tight end Donald Lee into the backfield as an extra blocker and shifting his protection scheme to the left. But when Favre took the snap and dropped back to his left, his receivers were covered, and he was wrapped up by defensive tackle Brandon Mebane.
Somehow, Favre broke free and took off to his right, but he lost his balance and struggled to keep from falling, managing a few steps forward as he stumbled.
"I was running left, the way I was supposed to go, and I saw him falling and took off to the right," Lee said. "The next thing I knew, the ball was coming."
Favre, just before hitting the turf, threw an underhand scoop pass that hit Lee in stride, and the tight end gained 11 yards for the first down. Grant ran it in from the 3 on the next play for a 28-17 lead, and Green Bay put it out of reach by scoring touchdowns on its first two possessions of the second half – a stretch of six consecutive TD drives after Grant's early miscues.
"I learned a lot from this game," Grant said. "I'm just glad Mike (McCarthy) stuck with me."
More than an hour after the game, Favre stood in a nearly deserted locker room and marveled at the young runner's resilience and that of this team that no one, not even the quarterback himself, viewed as a viable Super Bowl contender going into '07.
"The way he bounced back, running for 200 yards, that's hard to do," Favre said. "Whooo-hooo. Obviously, he's tough mentally and physically. This game will be important for him down the road."
As Favre nears the end of the road, he hopes Saturday's stirring scene in the snow won't be his last winning snapshot.
One more big game, and a week in sunny Arizona awaits.
Copyright 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Giants official withdraws as candidate for Falcons GM
ATLANTA (AP) -- The Falcons lost a candidate in their search for a general manager when Chris Mara of the New York Giants dropped out Thursday.
Mara, the Giants' vice president of player evaluation, withdrew from consideration two days after interviewing with Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
"I have withdrawn my name from consideration for the position of general manager for the Atlanta Falcons," Mara said in a one-paragraph statement released by the Giants. "I want to thank Arthur Blank for his interest in me, and we had a very good discussion earlier this week in Atlanta. However, I am no longer a candidate for the position."
Mara was at least the third candidate interviewed as a possible replacement for current GM Rich McKay, who is being stripped of his authority over personnel matters but was offered a two-year extension to remain as team president through 2010.
Philadelphia general manager Tom Heckert interviewed with the Falcons on Monday, looking into a job that would give him more power. With the Eagles, Heckert defers on personnel decisions to coach Andy Reid.
In addition to Mara, the Falcons met Tuesday with Gene Smith, director of college scouting for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Blank also received permission to meet with Green Bay's Reggie McKenzie and John Schneider, the two highest-ranking officials under Packers GM Ted Thompson.
The Falcons are running a concurrent search for a new coach, though they would prefer to have a general manager in place first.
Since being rebuffed by Bill Parcells, who rejected the chance to take over football operations in Atlanta and instead took a similar job in Miami, the most prominent name to emerge is Southern California coach Pete Carroll.
The Falcons want to speak with Carroll, who is vacationing in Hawaii. He has previously denied any interest in returning to the NFL, having coached the New York Jets and New England Patriots.
If Carroll agrees to an interview, the Falcons likely would offer a chance to both coach and control player personnel decisions.
Bobby Petrino stunningly left for Arkansas with three games left in his first season as Falcons coach, and Emmitt Thomas finished out the year on an interim basis. No one on the current staff is being considered for the permanent job.
In announcing last month that Parcells would not be coming to Atlanta, Blank revealed he also was looking for a new general manager.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
