The beauty of the Green Bay Packers is that the franchise has survived with community ownership and that those in the football operations can concentrate on building a solid product without a lot of top-heaving interference.

Bob Harlan, the Packers’ chairman, was going to retire and turn over his position to John Jones, but that isn’t going to happen now and Jones has been placed on paid leave.

Now, Harlan’s job may not be as powerful as say Ted Phillips’ position with the Chicago Bears or John Shaw’s with the St. Louis Rams, but he does have tremendous influence over the hiring of Green Bay’s general manager and head coach. The best thing Harlan ever did was hire Ron Wolf as general manager, who then hired Mike Holmgren. The Packers have been living off that legacy for years now, primarily because Brett Favre hasn’t retired.

Yes, part of Harlan’s job is ceremonial and public-relations conscious. But that doesn’t have to be true of his successor. The executive board would be wise to give Harlan’s replacement a bit more power and influence. If the league opts out of the collective bargaining agreement in 2008, a franchise like Green Bay could suffer competitively against the big-city markets. That’s why Harlan’s renovation of Lambeau Field was so financially critical to the franchise.

Everyone is talking about Tennessee GM Mike Reinfeldt returning to Green Bay, but that is highly unlikely. Vice President Andrew Brandt is probably the best in-house choice. But you can bet that Harlan would have pushed Brandt by now if that was a real possibility.

Harlan and the Packers should consider these experienced club executives: Bryan Wiedmeier, president of the Miami Dolphins; Rob Brzezinski, vice president of football operations for the Minnesota Vikings; and Jay Zygmunt, president of football operations for  the Rams. This would be a great job for former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi if he wanted to come out of retirement.

Some believe this position is one of the best in the NFL. But the downside is that you have to live and work in Green Bay.

Restoring some sanity

The long-term result of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s strong stance against the NFL’s most embarrassing players (Chicago’s Tank Johnson received an eight-game suspension on Monday, following the punishment of Chris Henry and Pacman Jones, et al) will be the opportunity to restore some sanity to the locker room while making other league employees realize that Goodell means business and that even lesser violations might warrant a one- or two-game suspension.

There is nothing wrong with putting a little fear into every player. Hopefully, it will make them all think twice before doing something stupid. There is too much at stake to simply toss away a million dollar career and the overall good name of the league.

There is no question that the majority of players support Goodell’s no-nonsense stance because the rap sheet element on teams erodes the good name of the vast majority of players and club employees.

Meanwhile, the league waits to see whether Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is charged in a dog fighting scandal in Virginia. Those close to Vick believe he has nothing to worry about and that any potential courtroom drama will be postponed until 2008.

The Falcons have shown no interest in signing another veteran quarterback (they have Joey Harrington as a backup), believing Vick will be their starter this season. For example, when Trent Green was available the Falcons decided against bidding with the Chiefs for his services.

Carr fitting in

There is no question that Jake Delhomme is Carolina’s starting quarterback, but David Carr, the first overall pick in the 2002 draft, has looked good in workouts for the Panthers. Carr chose the Panthers over Seattle. The Raiders kept calling, too, but they couldn’t promise Carr that they wouldn’t select a quarterback (JaMarcus Russell) with the first overall pick.

“Everybody likes their team in June,” Carolina GM Marty Hurney said. “Carr has looked good. But let’s wait until we’re into training camp for a couple of weeks before we say how good we can be.”

Remember, the Panthers had one of the NFL’s best drafts in April, plus there’s the positive news of linebacker Dan Morgan’s return. Morgan (concussions) is one of the league’s very best when healthy.

When you think about Carr, you have to wonder why Miami didn’t make a run at him, considering his arm strength. The Dolphins have finally acquired Trent Green, but there are many in Kansas City who believe Green’s career is at the end of the line.

With Joe Gibbs announcing he will return and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones believing that Bill Parcells may stick around for 2007, this could turn out to be a below-average season for head coaching changes.

Yes, Arizona looks like it will fire Denny Green and Pittsburgh believes Bill Cowher may retire. But Tennessee will pick up the $5.4 million option on Jeff Fisher, and probably is leaning toward giving him total control of personnel, too.

Another guy who appears to be safe is Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. And, if the Giants make the playoffs as a wild card, Coughlin may even get a one- or two-year extension. Coughlin is currently signed through next season.

Coughlin is only in jeopardy if the Giants don’t make the playoffs. But it isn’t a certainty that he will be fired if that happens, either. Remember, the Giants aren’t a knee-jerk reaction outfit. Coughlin won the division last season and his team has been wracked by injuries, too.

Of course, Coughlin may be asked to make some offensive coaching changes because of Eli Manning’s roller-coaster development.

Do Coaches Fib?

Recently, I was discussing this very subject with Jimmy Johnson. In my business, where I want to be able to trust people, Johnson made the point that since I’m in the gossip business that coaches -- or anyone for that matter -- may take advantage of not telling me the truth, especially if the little fib suits their interests.

This thought brings us to Miami coach Nick Saban and his response to Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, who asked him point blank about all these Alabama rumors after last Sunday’s 24-10 loss to Jacksonville.

Saban told Huizenga that he wasn’t going anywhere, let alone Alabama, and that he hadn’t finished his job in Miami. Right now, Saban is 14-14 with the Dolphins. He made a huge mistake on his starting quarterback, choosing Daunte Culpepper over potential 2006 MVP Drew Brees. Now, he’s stuck with Joey Harrington, who is no Brees, either.

Huizenga may be one of the best owners in the NFL and he worked extremely hard to lure Saban from LSU almost two years ago. I mean, he waited and waited in Baton Rouge for more than a day while Saban made up his mind about his offer. Not too many NFL owners would have had that kind of patience to stick around and wait on some football coach.

But until Alabama announces that it has hired a head coach to replace Mike Shula, we still believe the top choice in Tuscaloosa is Saban.

Throwing the fade pass

Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme should know better. But Delhomme heaved an ill-advised fade pass to Keyshawn Johnson at the end of the game in Philadelphia even though Eagles cornerback Lito Sheppard had deep inside position on the receiver.

There were two other prime examples this weekend when this pass should be and not be thrown. Tampa Bay rookie Bruce Gradkowksi was intercepted on the same play in his loss to the Steelers. But Eli Manning wasn’t when he was prepared to throw a fade to Plaxico Burress and didn’t. Say what?

Well, when a quarterback has a receiver like Burress, and the cornerback is over-playing to the inside anticipating the fade, the best thing to do is throw a rocket to the receiver’s inside. The receiver can then use his size and position to shield the defender from the ball. Basically, it’s like stealing. If you witnessed the Manning touchdown pass to Burress, you know what I’m writing about.

Delhomme had the same advantage with Keyshawn, who like Burress has size and strength over most cornerbacks. If Delhomme would have thrown a hard, inside fastball to Johnson, he would have had a touchdown and won the game. With experienced players like those two, it should have been an automatic throw. Football is a simple game, but both Delhomme and Gradkowski failed to read the defenders and looked miserable being intercepted.

Favre will decide early

Packers coach Mike McCarthy is confident that by the end of this brutal season in Green Bay that quarterback Brett Favre will tell him and the franchise well before the Super Bowl about his intentions to play or not play next season.