SO YOU ARE TELLING ME THERE IS A CHANCE

ESPN's Len Pasquarelli is reporting the flirtation between USC head coach Pete Carroll and Atlanta Falcon's owner Arthur Blank is reciprocal at this point despite some reports of Carroll uninterested.

In fact, on Thursday, Carroll was still in contact with coaches who likely would be assistants on his staff if he was offered and accepted the job here.

Carroll had yet to apprise the Falcons of that as of late Thursday night. Team officials still believed there was a chance Carroll would consider the job and a source close to the USC coach acknowledged late Thursday that, while he would probably remain with the Trojans, the Falcons' flirtation "is not quite a dead issue yet."

As the saying goes "where there is smoke there must be fire" and the fact that Carroll hasn't come out already saying he has no interest in the job must mean he is really intrigued by what Blank is offering. There also has to be another side to this story because let's be completely honest: The Falcons are a fucking mess right now. Either Carroll wants the challenge of rebuilding a team much like he did in Southern Cal or the money Blank is throwing at him is ridiculous($8-10 million a year is my guess) or Carroll knows the proverbial shit is about to hit the fan with NCAA sanctions coming down with the Reggie Bush investigation.

The good thing about the NFL is you can turn around a team pretty quickly because of the strict salary cap set in place. The Falcons may be horrible right now but I'm sure Carroll knows you are always a couple of players away from contending for the playoffs especially in the weak NFC. I mean look at what the Green Bay Packers are doing this season. No one in their right mind thought Brett Favre and company would win 13 games this season but all it took was a Pro Bowl season from himself and RB Ryan Grant emerging from the ashes of undrafted NFL free agency plus some good coaching by Mike Mularkey and instantly in one season they are a serious NFC Title contender.

I still don't believe Carroll will take the job unless Blank offers him a shit load of money with executive powers. As of this moment it looks like Blank is trying to find a GM to work with the coach so I doubt Carroll would be intrigued with that scenario. But as we all know coaching is a weird business especially the last couple of years where a coach has left a great job because they get antsy and want to prove to themselves and everybody else they can win no matter where they go.

If Carroll doesn't come out soon and say he has no interest in the job expect him to be looking at it real closely. If this is the case expect some serious doubt in USC current recruiting class as to whether USC would be the best place to play especially with Carroll departing and NCAA sanctions looming.