Jackson likely Falcons next offensive coordinator

The Bengals are likely to lose a valuable and talented member of their coaching staff, wide receivers coach Hue Jackson. A source in Atlanta said Jackson is likely to become the offensive coordinator for new Falcons coach Bobby Petrino.

Jackson and Petrino were on the same Arizona State staff for two seasons, 1992-93; Jackson stayed through 1995. He had a season as offensive cooordinator for Steve Spurrier with the Washington Redskins in 2003. He was offensive coordinator at California in 1996 and Southern Cal from 1997-2000.

Petrino will be introduced this afternoon as Falcons coach, replacing Jim Mora, fired last week.

Petrino and his Louisville staff visited Bengals training camp near Lexington, Ky. (Georgetown College) at least two times over the years.

The Bengals, as club policy, do not comment on coaching searches involving any of their employees. Coach Marvin Lewis said last week that his entire staff of assistants was under contract for the 2007 season. Bengals president Mike Brown, however, has allowed his coaches to pursue promotions with other teams. After the 2003 season, former wide receivers coach Alex Wood was allowed to go to the Arizona Cardinals as offensive coordinator under Dennis Green. That move opened the spot for Jackson.

Under Jackson's guidance, Chad Johnson has made three consecutive AFC Pro Bowl teams. T.J. Houshmandzadeh has emerged as a dangerous No. 2 receiver with more than 900 receiving yards in 2004 and 2005 before breaking past the 1,000-yard mark in 2006. Also, second-year wide receiver Chris Henry, despite repeated brushes with the law away from the stadium, has been a productive player on the field.

Jackson stressed down-field blocking in the run game from his receivers and the goal of running for yards after the catch. Houshmandzadeh is especially talented at gaining yards after the catch.

With one of the NFL's most prolific offenses and a talented offensive coaching staff, the Bengals were ripe and remain ripe to be picked for coordinators. Quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese also has been a coordinator candidate in the past two years. Running backs coach Jim Anderson has interviewed for other jobs, as well, namely the head coaching position at Stanford University after the 2002 season.