Saints' win hurts Giants' playoff chances

Drew Brees threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jimmy Graham with 3:24 to go, capping a 13-play, 90-yard drive and giving the Saints a 17-14 victory over the Falcons last night in Atlanta.

The Saints' victory further diminished the Giants' chances to make the playoffs as a wild card. Unless the Giants beat the Redskins and the Bears defeat the Packers, Big Blue will sit out the postseason for the second consecutive season.

The Falcons (12-3) had won eight straight to earn a playoff spot but were trying to clinch the NFC's top seed and home-field advantage for the playoffs. Atlanta also was seeking its first division title since 2004.

The defending Super Bowl champion Saints (11-4) had won six of seven but were coming off a six-point loss at Baltimore. They clinched at least a wild-card spot and can win the division if they beat the Bucs and the 2-13 Panthers shock the Falcons.

Next after Singletary?

Anyone who thinks the NFL has hit its quota for fired head coaches should sit tight and wait about a week.

Mike Singletary became the fourth coach canned this season when the 49ers cut ties Sunday, hours after losing at St. Louis to fall to 5-10. The Niners entered the season as the favorite in the NFC West but started 0-5. They have been plagued by poor communication on the field, indecisiveness off it.

So Singletary, 18-22 in two-plus seasons, joins Wade Phillips (Dallas), Brad Childress (Minnesota) and Josh McDaniels (Denver) among the unemployed. They soon will have company - likely lots of it.

"You know what, I'll put it this way: a personal failure. I'm the head coach of this team and wanted us to do better, felt that we could do better," Singletary said after Sunday's game.

Defensive line coach Jim Tomsula will be the interim coach for the season finale against Arizona.

Atop the endangered list are John Fox, whose Panthers are 2-13 and have clinched the first pick in April's draft; Marvin Lewis, who didn't accept a contract extension with the Bengals earlier this year and appears destined to leave; and Gary Kubiak, whose Texans have regressed badly just when their fans felt secure talking about making the playoffs for the first time.

The way things have deteriorated in Nashville, it's highly possible Jeff Fisher, the league's longest-tenured coach with one franchise at 16 years, will walk.

Tony Sparano could be in jeopardy with the Dolphins, who are 7-8 but went 1-7 in Miami; coaches who don't win at home generally don't keep their jobs.

Eric Mangini looked safe for a while in Cleveland, but the Browns are 5-10 and team president Mike Holmgren didn't hire Mangini.

Should all of them go, that would make 10 changes, equaling the bloodletting in 2006.

Whitehurst will start

Pete Carroll said Charlie Whitehurst will get all the snaps in practice for Sunday night's game against the Rams that will decide the NFC West title. But he added that Matt Hasselbeck's unspecified injury to his hip/lower back area "may be manageable" and won't rule him out.- AP