Falcons' Mora, Cardinals' Green Are Fired

More Changes May Be Afoot as Saban Reportedly Is Offered the Alabama Job

The firing season for NFL coaches began with two less-than-stunning moves yesterday with the dismissals of Atlanta Falcons Coach Jim Mora and Arizona Cardinals Coach Dennis Green.

Mora was fired by Falcons owner Arthur Blank after a season in which the club went 7-9 and Mora created an uproar by saying during a recent radio interview that he would leave immediately if he could get the coaching job at the University of Washington, his alma mater. Green lost his job on the heels of a 5-11 season by the Cardinals.

There were 10 head coaching changes leaguewide after last season. People around the NFL expect far fewer switches this offseason, but there still could be a few more moves. The Oakland Raiders have not said whether they will retain Art Shell, and the Cleveland Browns' Romeo Crennel and perhaps the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' Jon Gruden could be in jeopardy of being fired. The New York Giants reached the NFC playoffs with an 8-8 record, but a first-round loss in Philadelphia on Sunday might put Coach Tom Coughlin back in danger of being dismissed.

The Pittsburgh Steelers seem to expect their coach, Bill Cowher, to resign with a season remaining on his contract. The Dallas Cowboys are in the playoffs, but their disappointing regular season finish has some in the league wondering if Bill Parcells will walk away from coaching again, and there have been persistent reports that Miami Dolphins Coach Nick Saban might consider a lucrative contract offer from the University of Alabama. The school reportedly offered him $40 million for an undetermined number of years. The Birmingham News reported on its Web site that Athletic Director Mal Moore left Tuscaloosa on a plane headed for a Miami area airport.

Saban refused yesterday to address the subject in a news conference, saying he preferred to focus on the Dolphins.

Mora had a regular season record of 26-22 in three seasons as the Falcons' coach. He won the NFC South and reached the conference championship game as a rookie head coach in the 2004 season. But the Falcons slumped to 8-8 last season and fell below .500 this season. Mora became engulfed by controversy when his father, former NFL coach Jim Mora, agreed with a host's assessment during a radio appearance that Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is a "coach killer" because of his inaccurate passing. The younger Mora then angered Blank and Falcons fans with his radio gaffe, for which he later apologized.

The Falcons finished on an unimpressive note Sunday when they lost, 24-17, at Philadelphia even though the Eagles benched many of their starters early in the game after they clinched the NFC East title with the Cowboys' loss to the Detroit Lions. Mora tried an onside kick and a fake field goal in the second half, but Vick suffered a high ankle sprain in the third quarter and backup quarterback Matt Schaub couldn't beat the Eagles' backups. Mora said after the game he wanted to stay with the Falcons but didn't know if he would be retained.

"I love to coach football," he said Sunday night. "It's what I do. It's what I've done all my life. I have a strong passion for this organization. Of course I want to be here. It's all I've ever wanted. . . . [But] we got beat by basically some backups. . . . We've obviously got some things that we've got to improve upon."

Green went 16-32 in three seasons with the Cardinals and was fired with one season remaining on a four-year, $10 million contract. He reached the playoffs eight times in 10 seasons during his previous coaching stint with the Minnesota Vikings but failed to turn around a downtrodden franchise in Arizona. He tinkered with his coaching staff, starting quarterbacks and offensive line almost constantly without coming up with a winning combination.

The Cardinals entered this season with high hopes after signing tailback Edgerrin James as a free agent last offseason and getting Southern California quarterback Matt Leinart in the first round of the draft, but they followed an opening victory with eight straight losses. Green had a memorable postgame meltdown after a Monday night defeat to the Chicago Bears in October, yelling at media members that they could crown the Bears champions if they wished but the Cardinals knew what the Bears really were.

One NFL source said yesterday he expects Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg, formerly the head coach of the Lions, to be a candidate for both the Falcons and Cardinals jobs. The Cardinals are highly interested in USC Coach Pete Carroll but probably won't be able to get him to leave the school, the source said. Carroll previously coached in the NFL but has rejected repeated overtures from teams in recent years and has said he does not intend to leave USC this offseason.