A league source tells us that veteran coach Marty Schottenheimer is trying to finagle full control over the football operations in Atlanta.

Per the source, Schottenheimer is privately saying that he’s in line to run the show in Kansas City, when President/G.M. Carl Peterson and coach Herm Edwards are fired after the 2007 season ends.

The only problem? Peterson and Edwards aren’t going anywhere.

So what gives? The theories making the rounds are that Schottenheimer is simply mistaken, or that he’s intentionally puffing in order to get the Falcons to give him what he wants.

Meanwhile, Falcons owner Arthur Blank has retained former Giants G.M. Ernie Accorsi to assist in the search for a new G.M. and coach.

Blank turned to Accorsi after Bill Parcells used the Falcons’ offer as leverage to get a deal done with the Dolphins. But is Accorsi really all that different than the in-house G.M. whom Blank has suddenly decided to ignore?

Like Rich McKay, Accorsi enjoys a relationship with the media that insulates him from criticism. Indeed, no one (except us) has ever pointed out that Accorsi is the mad scientist who thought it would be wise to concoct a turd stew that featured personalities like Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan, Jeremy Shockey, and Plaxico Burress.

And then Accorsi gave up the fourth overall pick, another first-rounder, and more to acquire the rights to quarterback Eli Manning, a mealy-mouthed milequetoast with the leadership skills of a baked potato.

Finally, Accorsi hired a red-faced drill instructor to whip them all into shape.

But Accorsi’s involvement favors Schottenheimer. The question is whether Schottenheimer can get Accorsi to recommend to Blank that one guy should hold all of the juice as the Falcons try to return to respectability.

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Marty seemed to do a good job building the Chargers. I would NOT mind seeing him as the GM...just not the coach.