St. Louis ? With the NFL coaching carousel in full swing, at least two teams already circling for new head coaches are looking at St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith.

The New York Giants expected to interview Smith today as a possible successor to fired Jim Fassel, with the Atlanta Falcons looking to chat with Smith sometime this week about their own coaching vacancy.

The Chicago Bears Monday fired head coach Dick Jauron, the Buffalo Bills said farewell to Gregg Williams, and the Arizona Cardinals ousted Dave McGinnis.

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said he had a list of six to eight candidates for Jauron’s job, though he refused to reveal the names. Candidates in Buffalo include Fassel and Tom Coughlin, out of the NFL for a year after being dismissed by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Arizona planned to interview at least Fassel, former Minnesota Vikings coach Dennis Green, New England Patriots defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel and Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson.

The Rams (12-4) have a first-round bye in the playoffs, meaning head-coaching candidates with such teams can be interviewed Monday through Friday of this week, under NFL rules.

Rams coach Mike Martz said earlier this month that Smith, closing out his third season with St. Louis, definitely had the credentials to be a head coach.

“I’ll help anyway I can. It’s the right thing to do,” Martz said. “If I was in position to select a head coach he’s absolutely what you’d want. Character, intelligence, leadership skills and ability to communicate with players, all those things you have to give him great marks for.”

Monday, Martz said interest by other teams in Smith should not crimp the Rams’ playoff preparations, though he called balancing interviews with game-planning “hard.”

“I think the league understands how hard it is and that’s why they’ve put together a window of time where he’s available or any candidate is available,” Martz said. “It relieves a lot of pressure on guys like Lovie who need to be available, that can’t really wait.”

Regardless, Martz said, “we got a schedule planned and he knows what he needs to do, and we’ll work through it.”

Smith, whose Rams led the NFL with 46 takeaways and finished fourth with 42 sacks, would become the second candidate to talk with the Giants’ general manager Ernie Accorsi and chief operating officer John Mara. Coughlin, an ex-Giants assistant, was interviewed last week.

The Giants also plan to talk this week with Crennel and fellow Patriots assistant Charlie Weis, the club’s defensive coordinator.

Coughlin, Weis and Crennel all worked for the Giants in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In Atlanta, new Falcons president and general manager Rich McKay spent Monday at that team’s headquarters mapping out plans for his first round of interviews, having received permission to meet Smith and Crennel before Friday.

Wade Phillips also will be interviewed this week for the full-time job. Phillips worked as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator the past two years under Dan Reeves before going 2-1 as interim head coach after Reeves’ ouster earlier this month.

McKay also sought permission to speak with Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey. San Francisco told McKay he could contact defensive coordinator Jim Mora, the son of the former New Orleans and Indianapolis head coach.