Cover-2

When a Kerry Collins pass wobbled past an open receiver, it used to be an occasion for simply pointing and snickering. But no more - particularly for Titans defensive lineman William Hayes. Hayes was standing on the sideline daydreaming about flattening quarterbacks during Sunday's game against the Chiefs when a stray bullet from Collins hit him in the head and concussed him. He did not return to the game. But Titans fans will be gratified that Collins at least hit a player on his own team with a pass.

"That's kind of how the game went," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said Sunday. "I've never had a player leave the game with a concussion after getting hit with the ball on the sideline. But we'll see how he is this week." Hayes' injury left Tennessee thin along the defensive line with veteran Jovan Haye deactivated. The 6-foot-3, 272-pound Hayes has 29 total tackles in 13 games this season.

All Baltimore Ravens safety Ed Reed needs to perfect his Michael Jackson imitation is a little plastic surgery and a pet chimp. His coat caught fire on the sideline during a 20-10 victory over the Browns when he sat too close to a heater and, like James Brown, he dropped the cape and danced away. A do-rag kept his hair safe. He was also smoking on the field, with the 10th two-interception game of his career. The Ravens are in the playoffs with an opportunity to still win the division title on the last weekend of the season.

Next time, Ed: Stop, drop, and roll.

Now that ex-49ers coach Mike Singletary is down, why not kick him? Dan Bickley on azcentral.com wrote about a revealing over-the-top incident inside the 49ers locker room back in October:

"At halftime, Singletary called for the attention of his players. He then dropped his pants, turned around and pointed to his backside. He used this occasion and that visual to describe what happened to his team in the first half. . . . Singletary then addressed the team for 3-4 minutes with his pants around his ankles."

As Kramer said to Jerry on Seinfeld, "story like that's got to be true."

Anyone who thinks the NFL has hit its quota for fired coaches should sit tight and wait about a week. Singletary became the fourth coach canned this season, joining Wade Phillips (Dallas), Brad Childress (Minnesota), and Josh McDaniels (Denver) among the unemployed. They soon will have company - likely lots of company.

Atop the endangered list are Carolina's John Fox, whose team is 2-13 and has clinched the first pick in April's draft; Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati; and Gary Kubiak, whose Texans have regressed badly just when Houstonians felt secure talking about their team making the playoffs.

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.

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

Eric Mangini looked safe for a while in Cleveland, but the Browns are spiraling again.

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

And there's always the chance the ax could fall elsewhere in January, too. Perhaps the helpless, pitiful Giants' Tom Coughlin isn't all that safe.