Reached Tuesday afternoon at the Titans office, Chow said he has great interest in the Cardinals job and that he's hopeful his strong familiarity with Leinart would give him a natural advantage in relation to the other candidates.

"I do really want that job and it's a team with a lot of talent on it,'' Chow said. "I think somebody could go in there and really do a good job with what they have on hand. I know they haven't won much, but I'm not even sure what they're lacking.

"Obviously it would be a great opportunity and a lot of fun working with Matt again, because you already know the young man so well. We have a great relationship and I know what he can do.''

Chow has a relationship with Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill as well, having visited the team's training camp several times earlier this decade when Dave McGinnis was Arizona's head coach. He first met Bidwill, he said, on a visit to the team's camp in the early 1980s, when Jim Hanifan was the head coach of the then-St. Louis Cardinals.

Chow is 60 and has never been a head coach, but he doesn't expect that to doom his chances in Arizona.

"I know it's going to be a question,'' he said. "They'll say, 'You're 60 and never have been a head coach. Why?' But I have a great amount of energy and know I can do the job. I can get out here and run laps around a lot of guys, and I can prove it.''

Cameron is considered another strong candidate for the Arizona job, given that he has both head coaching experience (at Indiana University) and has received credit this season for helping guide the Chargers to an NFL-best 14-2 record, despite San Diego playing first-time starter Philip Rivers at quarterback. With so much offensive talent on hand in Arizona, the Cardinals management is looking for a coach who can quickly build a playoff team around the club's obvious strong suit. But Cameron's chances might be lessened if the Chargers go a long way in the playoffs, making Arizona wait until early February to hire him.

The Cardinals' shot at hiring either Whisenhunt or Grimm is contingent on timing as well. With Steelers head coach Bill Cowher expected to step down by early next week at the absolute latest, both Grimm and Whisenhunt are in the mix to be Cowher's successor. Neither one is expected to make any decision on a job until they know their fate in Pittsburgh. League sources say Grimm is thought to have the slight advantage over Whisenhunt at this juncture.

One potential candidate who has been mentioned in connection with the Cardinals coaching job is a virtual non-entity in the team's search: Southern Cal's Pete Carroll, who has made it known that before returning to the NFL for a third head-coaching position he would require having complete control of a team's personnel decision making. The Cardinals just took that possibility off the board this week by announcing a new three-year contract extension for Graves, who is expected to take a more prominent role in personnel matters now that Dennis Green is the team's ex-head coach.

With the Cardinals still on the hook to Green for $2.5 million in 2007, it is not expected that they would be willing to pay the price it would take to lure Carroll from Southern Cal.

One league source, however, said Carroll may not be as adverse to taking another shot at the NFL -- and leaving the comfort and success of his USC job -- as is commonly believed. Why? Because of the possibility that the Trojans program could be facing NCAA sanctions over Reggie Bush accepting improper benefits from agents in 2005.

"If Pete knows that NCAA sanctions were coming, and some of what he had accomplished there would be tarnished, that could change his view of returning to the NFL,'' the league source said.

While Atlanta Falcons officials are being much less forthcoming about their nascent coaching search than the Cardinals are, the team has received permission to interview Whisenhunt. Another name that is expected to surface in Atlanta is Karl Dorrell, the UCLA head coach and former Denver Broncos assistant.

As a minority candidate with both head coaching and NFL experience, Dorrell has a strong combination of factors in his favor. His name gained momentum late this season after his Bruins upset their crosstown rival and No. 2-ranked Trojans 13-9, knocking USC out of the national championship game against Ohio State.

Chow said he has not been contacted by the Falcons, nor does he think Atlanta has requested permission from Tennessee to interview him. Given his strong work with Young this year, and the similarities between Young and Michael Vick's style of quarterbacking, some believed that Chow would be on Atlanta's list of potential interviews.

As for Miami, whose coaching position just opened Tuesday when Nick Saban resigned to take the University of Alabama job, the Dolphins are in the formative stages of planning their search. But ex-Miami defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jim Bates -- who went 3-4 after being named to replace the fired Dave Wannstedt in 2004 -- could be a factor.