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Falcons GM Candidate Withdraws Name

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The Associated Press

Published: January 11, 2008

ATLANTA - 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"I have withdrawn my name from consideration for the position of general manager for the Atlanta Falcons," Mara said in a one-paragraph statement released by the Giants.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, the former Bucs executive 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.

Tomlin Says He Doesn't Regret Calls In Loss

PITTSBURGH - Steelers coach Mike Tomlin says if he had it to do all over again, he'd do it all over again.

Yes, he would again call for the two debatable 2-point conversion tries. He also defended the decision to run the ball on Pittsburgh's failed final drive, which led to Jacksonville's winning field goal and the Jaguars' 31-29 AFC playoff victory on Saturday.

Yes, that Ben Roethlisberger rollout on third-and-6 from the Pittsburgh 26 with 2:56 to play and the Steelers up 29-28 would be repeated - even though a successful short pass play would have given them the opportunity to run out the clock.

Roethlisberger was stopped for only a 1-yard gain on a quarterback sweep to his left, a play that the Steelers rarely use but which still didn't fool Jaguars safety Sammy Knight. Roethlisberger threw for 337 yards and two scores and the Steelers ran for only 43 yards on 26 carries, yet they called three successive run plays on that final drive.

OK, Tomlin may be second-guessing that play-calling a little.

"Hindsight is 20-15 sometimes," Tomlin, who was the Bucs' defensive backs coach from 2001-05, said at his end-of-season news conference Thursday. "If you had it to do over, yes, you would love to do that throw the ball because the result of the play was not the result we were looking for."

In other Steelers news, wide receiver Hines Ward underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a partially torn meniscus in his right knee and will need about six weeks of recovery time before beginning offseason workouts.

REDSKINS VACANCY: Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz became the first person to interview for Washington's coaching vacancy Thursday as the team stepped up its search for a successor to Joe Gibbs.

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