College football coaches were falling like flies after Week 13. Fans heap their scorn upon coaches with underachieving programs; even Pete Carroll, the brilliant coach of the USC Trojans, heard the boos earlier this season when the team was in the midst of losing to Stanford. The Trojans might end up in the Rose Bowl anyway, but will that be enough to salve Carroll’s pride?

If not, the NFL beckons. The Miami Dolphins were reportedly very interested in luring Carroll out of college to replace Nick Saban, before inking Cam Cameron instead. In 2005, rumors suggested Carroll might be on his way to the pros; last year, stories out of Arizona mused about a Carroll-Matt Leinart reunion. Still, nobody has come up with a suitable offer to pry Carroll from the college ranks.

Carroll has professed his love for USC time and again. It’ll take a lot more than one rough patch to send him packing.

I haven’t had this much fun watching the NFL in a long time – Monday nights notwithstanding. It should be even more fun this week. Just add Turducken.

We’ll start with the Packers at the Lions. Dallas is the more enjoyable Thanksgiving team to watch, but the Cowboys get to host the Jets – ho hum. Green Bay is favored by a figgie.

Then Sunday is just nuts. The Jets-Cowboys might be a blowout, but the Patriots host the Eagles while laying a colossal 23 points. Watching that Pats offense is a religious experience, like dinner at Spago, or Jessica Alba dancing.

And Monday is Miami-Pittsburgh. An awful matchup on paper with the Steelers spotting the Fins 16 points. But maybe, just maybe, Ricky Williams will play. This is one of the greatest tailbacks in NFL history, although the whacky tabacky and a short, injury riddled stint in the Canadian Football League has truncated his career. Run, Ricky, run. Don’t make me start watching pro wrestling again.

If the NFL playoffs were to start this weekend, Cleveland and Arizona would both be watching the postseason at home on television. When the real playoffs finally arrive in a couple of months, you can expect both the Browns and the Cardinals to be playing.

Out of all the NFL teams currently outside playoff contention, the Browns and Cardinals have the best shot at getting over the hump. The Browns are currently 5-4 and are one win behind the Wild Card leaders in the AFC. Cleveland has a great offense and an improving defense, as well as one of the easiest schedules the rest of the season. Out of the seven teams Cleveland has left to play, only one has a record over .500 – in fact the combined record of those seven teams is 23-40. Cleveland may have a similar dilemma on their hands in the offseason with Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn that San Diego had a few years ago with Drew Brees and Philip Rivers.

Meanwhile in Arizona the Cardinals are 4-5 and sit only a game back of Seattle for the NFC West division lead. As long as Arizona can stay healthy this should be the year they unseat the Seahawks in the West. The Cardinals have all the tools on offense and, like Cleveland, have a pretty easy schedule. Out of Arizona’s remaining seven games only two of their opponents are over .500, and like Cleveland’s opposition the combined record of those seven teams is 23-40. Place your future bets now – Arizona takes the NFC West.

With eight weeks left in the NFL regular season we asked Bodoglife.com bookmaker his impressions of the huge Patriots/Colts game and whether the Pats have what it takes to become only the second team in NFL history to finish with a perfect record. He also gives us his picks for most the most surprising and most disappointing teams in the NFL. And for you fantasy fans he gives us his Most Valuable Player and Least Valuable Players this year in the NFL.

What were your thoughts about the Patriots Colts game? Can the Patriots run the table and finish 16-0
The Colts-Patriots game lived up to the hype of being Super Bowl XLI ½, here are just a few of the highlights:

Tom Brady overcame two interceptions (which doubled his season total) and completed his 25th game-winning drive to help the Pats defeat the Colts 24-20. The two-time Super Bowl MVP brought himself another notch closer to securing his first regular-season MVP award, while the Pats have now have the momentum to keep the ’72 Dolphins from popping celebratory champagne.

Running back Joseph Addai became the only Colt to run and catch for over 100 yards in a single game while Peyton Manning lost a fumble for the first time in 14 games.

Colts GM Bill Polian said before the game, “it doesn’t matter who wins this one…” insinuating that both teams will be seeded 1 and 2 in the AFC and meet again in the AFC Championships. But I think Polian missed the point here. By losing this game the Colts have all but guaranteed the Patriots will host the championship game in January. This forces the Colts out of the comfortable confines of the RCA Dome and into the winter conditions of Foxboro. Advantage Patriots.

Can the Patriots finish 16-0? I think the only thing that can stop the Pats from running the table is if Bill Belichick decides to rest his players for the final two games because they’ve locked up 1st place in the conference. 16-0 would be an incredible accomplishment but as ego-driven as Belichick is, he’s not going to risk Brady, Randy Moss and the rest of the first stringers for some meaningless game versus the meaningless Miami Dolphins.

Patriots record 9-0, ATS 8-1
Colts record 7-1, ATS 6-2

Now that all 32 teams have played 8 or more games who have been your biggest surprises and biggest disappointments?

The NFC North is home to my two biggest surprise teams - the Packers and the Lions. They have a combined record of 13-3.

Maybe we should have listened to quarterback John Kitna when he proudly predicted the Lions would be good for 10 wins this season, because looking at the way they’ve played so far; he may have underestimated his team. Detroit will never be confused with the greatest show on turf but Mike Martz has the Lions offence averaging 25 points a game which includes the Lions hanging 37 points on the Bears, last years NFC champion, and 44 points on mastermind Mike Shanahan’s Broncos.

In Green Bay, Brett Favre has turned back the clock to 1997. The gunslinger keeps firing, and he’s helped the Packers post a 7-1 record. It unbelievable that the Packers are winning without a running game, there are 13 running backs who have more rushing yards than the Green Bay Packers combined rushing attack. Lacking a solid running game could kill them in the playoffs but until then I’m going to sit back and enjoy the Brett Favre show.

When it comes to disappointing teams there are lots to choose from. Had I been asked two weeks ago the easiest answers would have been San Diego and New Orleans as both were expected to be at or close to the top of their conferences. But after a few big wins both teams have played themselves into contention in their respective divisions.

So instead I’m going to give the most-disappointed crown to the entire NFC West with a combined record of 9-23. This was supposed to be one of the most hotly contested divisions with Arizona hiring a new coach and promising big changes, San Francisco making some splashy signings, Seattle holding steady with the same squad that won the NFC West in 2006, and a St. Louis squad that was ready to breakout behind the legs of Steven Jackson.

However, so far injuries to Jackson and Marc Bulger have St. Louis averaging 12.4 points per game and sitting at 0-8. Division leader Seattle sits with a lowly 4-4 after losing in Week 9 to the NFL’s punch line – the Cleveland Browns. The San Francisco 49ers is 2-6 after losing to the Vick-less Atlanta Falcons. And the Arizona Cardinals are still playing like…well, like the Arizona Cardinals.

Green Bay Packers - Record 7-1 ATS 6-1-1
Detroit Lions - Record 6-2 ATS 5-3
San Diego Chargers Record 4-4 ATS 4-4
New Orleans Saints Record 4-4 ATS 3-5
Seattle Seahawks Record 4-4 ATS 2-5-1
Arizona Cardinals Record 3-5 ATS 5-3
SF 49ers Record 2-6 ATS 2-6
St. Louis Rams Record 0-8 ATS 1-7
Cleveland Browns Record 5-3 ATS 6-1-1

Who are your midseason MVP’s and your LVP’s?
Barring injury or an attack by a crazed super model Tom Brady is going to win the MVP unanimously. For the first time ever he has quality wide receivers to catch his passes. Brady is on his way to smashing the record for most TD tosses in a single season set in 2004 by archrival Payton Manning.

As for the most disappointing player, it’s hard to pick just one player so I’m going to give the honor to three: Cedric Benson, Frank Gore and Shaun Alexander. Frank Gore finished third in rushing yards last season giving everyone the impression he was going to bust out this year, but like the rest of the 49ers team he failed to live up to expectations.

Cedric Benson was finally given the chance to shine after a couple seasons sharing Chicago’s RB duties with Thomas Jones. But Benson has only cracked the 100 yard mark once this year and is averaging a lowly 3.1 yards a carry.

A revitalized Shaun Alexander was supposed to lead the Seahawks to the top of the NFC. However, Alexander has scored just two touchdowns and both came in the first two weeks of the season.

The sports drink market is increasingly crowded, but none of the newcomers has been able to knock Gatorade off its perch. The latest contender isn’t even a drink at all – it’s one of those filmy strips like the ones Listerine makes.

The product is called Enlyten Sports Strips. Their president is Dan Kelly, brother of former Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly, and their first attempt at the big time was to call itself the “official electrolyte strip” of the Bills. League officials swooped in and banned any connection with NFL property in Enlyten’s advertising, presumably at the behest of Gatorade.

Enlyten has fired back with a lawsuit, claiming the Bills informed them that Gatorade’s exclusive sponsorship deal only included “sports drinks, bars and gels.” The suit also claims that Gatorade threatened to weaken relations with Duke University after studies at Duke Sports Medicine were favorable toward the Enlyten strips. It should only get nastier from here.

Two undefeated teams meeting this late in the NFL season? What are the chances? Well here it is folks- Super Bowl 41 1/2.

The quarterbacks alone make this soon-to-be-classic match-up between the 8-0 Patriots and the 7-0 Colts a special one. Brady is set to break Manning’s record of 49 touchdown passes in one season but don’t think this minimizes Manning’s greatness at all. On Sunday night we are going to see a three-time Super Bowl champ in Brady taking on Manning, a man who choreographs plays from the line of scrimmage, commands the the offense like a front-line general and pin-points passes like a heat-seeking missile.

Neither of these champion athletes is refusing to ease off the accelerator. But by Sunday evening one will be left defeated, while the other will be crowned King- at least until Super Bowl.