Even though the celebration in Baltimore will go on throughout the week and beyond, it’s never too early to look ahead to the 2013 season, right? With that in mind, here’s Athlon Sports’ early look at which teams could be playing in Super Bowl XLVIII in MetLife Stadium in New York City on Feb. 2, 2014.

By the way, the temperature in the Big Apple as of game time on Sunday night was a brisk 31 degrees. Whichever two teams do make it to next season’s Super Bowl will want to be sure and pack their cold-weather gear.

What defines a great play?

Athlon Sports' weekly rankings of NFL teams. The New England Patriots have taken over the top spot. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs remain locked into the No. 1 pick in this April's NFL Draft.

Here are our NFL Power Rankings following the NFL Playoffs' Divisional Round:

Athlon Sports' weekly rankings of NFL teams. The Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons head into the playoffs as the No. 1 seeds in the AFC and NFC, respectively. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs have locked up the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Here are our NFL Power Rankings following the NFL Playoffs' Wild Card Weekend:

A betting preview of each of every game (against the spread) on Wild Card Weekend in the NFL Playoffs.


Lock of the Week
Win or lose, this is Ray Lewis' last dance in front of the home crowd in Baltimore, expect the city's new team to soar past its former franchise.

The Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans will face off in the postseason for the second straight season when they get together on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The Bengals (10-6) enter this game having won three in a row and seven of their last eight, while the AFC South champion Texans (12-4), stumbled late, dropping three of their last four games. Houston defeated Cincinnati 31-10 in last season’s Wild Card round, earning the Texans their first playoff victory in franchise history.

NFL Playoffs previews and predictions for Wild Card Weekend:

Athlon Sports' weekly rankings of NFL teams. The Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos head into the playoffs as the No. 1 seeds in the NFC and AFC, respectively. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs have locked up the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.

Here are our NFL Power Rankings following Week 17 of the season:

The easiest path to the Super Bowl has always been through a division championship. That fact is indisputable. There have been 46 Super Bowls and 92 Super Bowl teams and through all that time only 10 wild-cards have ever played for a championship.

And only six have run the wild-card gauntlet to be crowned Super Bowl champions.

NFL Week 17 previews and predictions for every game on the schedule, broken down into tiers in regards to what they’re playing for (in order of likelihood) on the last Sunday of the regular season:


First-round Bye:

Texans (12-3) at Colts (10-5)