Football in late fall is full of rich traditions, from the Thanksgiving day games to the college bowls to the snow-filled clashes for playoff position. It's a time of pageantry, beauty and brutality, the full expression of football's finest drama bookended by parades -- the Macy's and the Rose Bowl's. 

For the Dallas Cowboys, though, another tradition takes hold when the calendar strikes 12: a recurring nightmare of epic collapse. 

Dallas' December demise has become a natural and predictable phenomenon, like the migration of Canadian geese or the sudden proliferation of temporarily employable fat white-bearded men in America's shopping malls. Bill Parcells couldn't prevent it, nor Wade Phillips, and now Jason Garrett finds himself with the cold bony hand of December gripping his shoulder, and guiding him toward another offseason of misery. 

It started in earnest in 2006. 

For a team that looked youngry and ready to take the next step it sure went south in a hurry. Coming off of a 10-6 season where the Buccaneers narrowly missed out on the playoffs they were supposed to battle the Saints and Falcons for supremacy of the NFC South.

After a promising 3-1 start, this team is now is in full-blown crisis mode.  Now after seven straight losses they will be watching the playoffs from home again this time around. Their passing game just isn’t what it was last year, and their defense has been equally as bad.

New head coach Raheem Morris was ushered in as Super Bowl winning head coach Jon Gruden was shown the door. As it stands now Raheem Morris has gone from being a darling coach of the media spotlight to being firmly on the hot seat, while Gruden could have his choice of available coaching jobs should he decide to leave the booth.

How did his stock fall so far? Let's take a look at the biggest culprits in the Bucs' collapse. 

Last night we watched the product of what happens when a team is completely broken. The Jacksonville Jaguars suffered a 41-14 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on national television. The Jaguars in particular are in a tough spot when they play teams like the Falcons, or the Chargers as they did two weeks ago. Their secondary is completely depleted, and they're getting whipped by teams that have good receivers.

This is the challenge of the interim coach. How do you continue to inspire your players to continue to fight when you know full well that you're likely gone at the end of the year? So far this season, 3 coaches have been put into that position; Mel Tucker in Jacksonville, Todd Bowles in Miami, and Romeo Crennel in Kansas City.

Two of the above coaches likely have a realistic chance of being serious candidates for the job they've inherited. Crennel makes some sense in Kansas City as he's been a head coach in the NFL before (Cleveland), but he doesn't carry the weight that some of the big-name candidates do.

The other interim coach that has a chance at dropping the "interim" part of his title is Mel Tucker. Tucker has turned one of the worst defenses in the NFL into one of the better units, although they've slipped lately as a result of the injuries I mentioned earlier. The players love him on both sides of the ball, and he's seemingly what the Jaguars would like to get; a young guy with a lot of energy.

Todd Bowles isn't likely to become the Dolphins new head coach once the season is over. The Dolphins are looking for a big-name guy that can inspire their fans and players. It's likely that the Dolphins will be cleaning out their front office at season's end, and bringing the A-listers to South Beach is practically in their DNA.

Interim coaches such as Crennel, Tucker, and Bowles are constantly under a microscope. The position as interim coach is often described as an ongoing audition for their job. In all reality, that's not always the case. True, it's likely that Bowles may get an interview for the Dolphins' vacancy, but it's highly unlikely that he could actually win the job. Essentially, the interim position is only an audition if the owner wants it to be, and more often than not, the owner just wants the season to end so he can start his real search for a head coach.

So, what would it take for Crennel or Tucker to secure the head coaching job for their respective teams? Probably just winning games. The Chiefs and the Jaguars have both underperformed this season for all kinds of reasons, but the fact is that the owners just want to be putting winners on the field. I'm not talking about one or two wins either. I'm talking about a record of above .500 to secure the job. Crennel has the tougher job between him and Tucker. He's not as likely to garner as much attention as Tucker will in Jacksonville.

Don't underestimate interim coaches though. Just like their teams, they often have nothing to lose and everything to gain, making them very, very dangerous on the field.

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Last night we kicked off week 15, with the Falcons (led by 2008 AP Coach of the year Mike Smith) kicking some serious Jaguar butts. I started to think which coach deserves the same accolades this year. This has been one of the more competitive years in terms of the battle for coach of the year. There are many names that come to mind right away when thinking of worthy candidates but its important to note what people are looking for when deciding on coach of the year.

The Packers are 13-0 so why wouldn’t Mike McCarthy be coach of the year? The 49ers are 10-3 after an abysmal year last year and are led by new stud head coach Jim Harbaugh, so shouldn’t it go to him? John Fox made as bold as a move as anyone and changed his entire offense based on a player who can’t play QB and now is leading the division, surely he should take it?

In my mind there are several worthy choices for this year’s coach of the year honors, but I will break it down to 4 deserving candidates.

The grind is over, playoffs are upon us and fantasy owners all over are rejoicing.  For those fortunate enough to make it we salute you. For those who have missed out we wish you better luck next year, and leave you with a reminder.  It’s never too soon to prepare for the 2012 fantasy season.  For most of you it all comes down to this week, for others the culmination of your hard work will have to wait until next week.

Either way it is win or go home time for fantasy owners. With that in mind, here is who to start and who to sit for week 15.

Starters

Quarterback

Tony Romo at Buccaneers (Sat.): The Cowboys might be choking before our very eyes (again), but Romo is still a tremendous option. He put up his best stat line of the season in a loss to the Giants, and facing a Buccaneers unit that ranks 27th against the pass is clearly a favorable matchup.

Carson Palmer vs. Lions: Palmer's interception issues are a concern, but he's still worth a look against a Lions defense that's allowed an average of 24.90 fantasy points to quarterbacks in their last four games. That includes 28.16 points to the combination of Christian Ponder and Joe Webb last week. 

Wide Receiver

A.J. Green at Rams: Green is having one of the best rookie seasons at the wide receiver position, and this week's matchup against the Rams makes him a must-start in all leagues. St. Louis has given up 17 touchdown catches and the fifth-most fantasy points to wide receivers, so look for Green to be very active.

Jordy Nelson at Chiefs: The decision to start Nelson is more about production and targets than it is about the matchup. With Greg Jennings out, Aaron Rodgers will be looking for Nelson more often in one of the league's most prolific pass attacks. He needs to be active across the board.

The line opened at Falcons -10. It closed at nearly -14. And that wasn't nearly enough, as hordes of the betting public flooded to the sportsbook to put their money on Atlanta. Turns out there might be something to this "wisdom of crowds" thing after all.

There were all kinds of deceptive factors in this game, for those that wanted to believe in the Jacksonville Jaguars (or the massive point spread). However, each one of these truths had a big lie at heart, as the Falcons quickly exposed.

Truth: The Jaguars came into the game with the fourth-ranked passing defense, one of only five teams giving up less than 200 yards per game.

The lie behind the truth: Teams don't need to pass for huge yardage to put games out of reach on this Jacksonville team, as awful as their offense is. Early in the third quarter, Matt Ryan had a mere 160 yards passing, and his team was up 34-0.

A muffed punt inside the Jaguars' ten yard line produced the first of three laughably easy scores for the Falcons. Atlanta scored 17 of their 41 points points on a total of 11 yards of offense.

Truth: Maurice Jones-Drew is the league's leading rusher.

The lie behind the truth: Unless MJD is doing the scoring himself, the team isn't benefiting from his work. Jones-Drew has seven touchdowns on the season. The rest of his offense has ten. Only one team -- the Rams, who are challenging for the worst scoring offense in the modern era -- has fewer receiving touchdowns. 

Case in point: with his team down by a semi-respectable 17 points, Jones-Drew ripped off a 43-yard run. A dropped pass, a busted protection and a bad throw later (those were three different plays) the Jaguars punted from inside the Atlanta 40 yard line.

Truth: The Atlanta Falcons don't generate much pass pressure, ranking 27th in the NFL in sacks.

The lie behind the truth: They haven't faced many passing offenses as inept and ill-equipped as Jacksonville. John Abraham had only five sacks coming into this game, but had racked up 31 quarterback pressures, good for ninth in the NFL among 4-3 defensive ends. He's a little less explosive than he was in his prime, and is facing off against a new class of offensive tackle.

That was before he lined up against Guy Whimper, who learned the art of avoiding contact from a Spanish bullfighter, and took aim at Blaine Gabbert, who holds on to the ball for far too long.

Abraham racked up three and a half sacks and forced two fumbles, both deep in Jacksonville territory.

Truth: The Jacksonville Jaguars showed what they're capable of in a 41-14 win over Tampa Bay last week.

The line behind the truth: They also showed what they're capable of tonight. Two ends of a spectrum. We got the really, really bad end of it tonight.

Another lie behind the truth: The Tampa Bay Bucs are just that bad. By transitive property, this week's Falcons beat last week's Bucs 82-28. That's got to be some kind of record.

What I Liked:

There really wasn't much to complain about if you're a member of the Atlanta Falcons. They dominated the game from start to finish. Roddy White and Julio Jones were able to open up the field for Matt Ryan. There were a couple drives that stalled in the first half, but their defense and special teams units came up big.

This type of win is the definition of a team win, and it allows them to sleep easy as they begin to prepare for a huge matchup against the NFC South leading New Orleans Saints.

What I Hated:

As great as the Falcons were, the Jaguars were equally bad. They couldn't keep drives going, they couldn't get off the field on defense, and their special teams unit didn't help them out either. The Jaguars came into the game with a lot of poor matchups to work against, and they didn't handle them well. Their corners were out of position nearly all night, and turnovers killed any chance they had of keeping the game remotely close.

Where They're Going:

With the win, the Falcons move to 9-5, and the Jaguars move to 4-10. The Falcons will retain the 5 seed in the NFC playoff race for at least another week. The benefit to them is that they now have a long week to prepare for their game against the Saints next weekend. The hope in Atlanta is that the added time will give them a slight advantage over the New Orleans.

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Todd Haley and Tony Sparano both lost their jobs this week. Despite just three weeks left to play in the season, the Chiefs and Dolphins felt that it was appropriate for them to dismiss their coaches and essentially leave their teams out to dry. So where do they go from here? Big name, big ticket coach? Or small name, well respected coordinator poached from a successful team?

Well lets take a look at both situations, with both teams, and figure out what would work best, and what will likely happen. 

Tonight, the Atlanta Falcons play host to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The game has a very lack-luster outward appearance, but it's a game that I'll be watching very closely for a lot of reasons.

The Jaguars come into the game at just 4-9, far removed from playoff contention. Despite that fact, they'd love to be the thorn in someone else's side.

The Falcons come into the game with a tenuous lead in the NFC wild-card race. At 8-5, they have a 1 game lead over the pack of teams that are on the outside looking in. But with 3 games left in the season, there's more than enough time to pad that lead or blow it.

The Falcons do seem to have a significant matchup advantage against the Jaguars' defense, which has been severely hurt by injuries in its secondary. The Jaguars are missing their top 3 cornerbacks, and that gives Matt Ryan and company a mouth-watering edge on the outside.

That being the case, the Falcons can't afford to overlook the Jaguars. The Jags will look to control the tempo of the game with Maurice Jones-Drew, the NFL's leading rusher. If that goes well for the Jaguars, they can open it up significantly with play-action passes, one of the few areas that Blaine Gabbert has been proficient in.

The key for the Falcons in tonight's game is to play within themselves and in the moment. The Jaguars have kept nearly every game this season within a score or two, and there's no reason to believe they can't do it again. The Falcons need to play a full 60 minutes of football. Shutting down Maurice Jones-Drew will likely be their primary objective.

Despite all of the matchup edges the Falcons have when their offense is on the field, they have to account for turnovers. The Jaguars were dominated in the 1st quarter last week, but they forced the Buccaneers into turnover after turnover which led to a blowout win for the Jaguars. Their confidence could be their biggest asset against the Falcons, and Mike Smith isn't likely to be thinking beyond tonight's game.

We often say in sports that the most dangerous teams have little or nothing to play for. At 4-9, the Jaguars can't make the playoffs, they can't get to a .500 record, but their coach is in the midst of an audition to become the Jaguars head coach moving forward. The Jaguars are still playing for pride, and they'd love to see their guy, Maurice Jones-Drew, claim the regular season rushing title. While the Jaguars don't have huge goals to play for, they're not dead in the water, and yes, they can be very dangerous. Ask the Ravens if the Jaguars are a formidable opponent. My guess is they'd say yes.

Ultimately, this game is about the Atlanta Falcons. It's all on them tonight. Matt Ryan and the rest of the Falcons will determine the winner of the game. They have a better team than the Jaguars, and if they play at their level, the Jaguars can only hope to keep the game close. If, however, the Falcons have overlooked this game or just haven't prepared well enough, they'll find themselves marred in the middle of the wild-card pack in the NFC. That's a place they'd rather avoid.

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Wide receiver Sam Hurd wasn't getting much game from the Chicago Bears, so he decided to enter a different kind of game instead, according to a shocking report from the Chicago Sun Times. From the timeline of Sun-Times columnist Sean Jensen (@skjensen):

#Bears WR Sam Hurd arrested last night in Chicago for allegedly attempting to purchase drugs from a North Texas supplier, according to Dallas Morning News.

In complaint, posted by Morning News, this involves 500 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing detectable amounts of cocaine"

According to Homeland Security report, on July 27, Sam Hurd would be transporting the cocaine "to a northern destination" that same day...

The report says that Sam Hurd met with an undercover Homeland Security agent at a restaurant on W. Bryn Mawr Ave at 7:40 last night

Sam Hurd told undercover agent he wanted to purchase 5-10 kilograms of cocaine & 1,000 pounds of marijuana a week to distribute in Chicago Hurd told undercover agent that he and a co-conspirator currently distribute 4 kilograms of cocaine in Chicago area but it wasn't enough

Hurd then accepted a kilogram of cocaine from the undercover agent, placed it in his vehicle, and then was subsquently arrested

The Homeland Security special agent says he believes Sam Hurd has 21 violations beginning in July 2011 to last night.

Hurd is far from the only NFL player busted for extracurricular activities, but the sheer numbers being talked about here are staggering. Some of the most infamous past offenders:

• 2011: Cincinnati Bengals WR Jerome Simpson was arrested for having 2.5 pounds of marijuana mailed to his house. Police found a total of 8.5 pounds in his home.
• 2001: Former Dallas Cowboy Nate Newton is arrested with 213 pounds of marijuana in his trunk. 
• 1990: Former Buccaneers place kicker Donald Igwebuike is arrested as part of a $1 million dollar heroin smuggling ring. (He was later acquitted.) 

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