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.

Eight NFL teams, or a quarter of the league, have hired new head coaches since the first of the year. The seemingly flush job market was initially created on Dec. 31, the day after the regular season ended, when Arizona, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Philadelphia and San Diego all fired their head coaches.

Few positions in football have evolved as much as the tight end — which has morphed from that of old school glorified sixth offensive lineman to modern giant slot receiver. Keeping that role reversal in mind, we rank the 25 greatest tight ends in NFL history.

Another stellar NFL season is in the books. And unlike any year in the past, rookie quarterbacks, single-season records, franchise records and all-time greats produced at unprecedented levels. The NFL record books were completely rewritten this fall and Athlon Sports has compiled all the important numbers the fans need to know about 2012:

Andy Reid’s 14-year run as the Eagles’ head coach has ended. Philadelphia’s front office decided to go in another direction after the Eagles’ first losing season since 2005. Philadelphia also missed out on the playoffs the last two years and has not won a postseason game since 2008. Reid had a solid career with the Eagles and will land another head coaching job in the near future.

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)

A betting preview of every game (against the spread) in Week 16.

With nearly one-third of the NFL coaching jobs expected to be vacant by year’s end — including sweet gigs like the Philadelphia Eagles, San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints, as well as the revolving doors of the Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Arizona Cardinals and Jacksonville Jaguars — silly season is officially upon us.

NFL Week 16 previews and predictions for every game on the schedule:

A betting preview of every game (against the spread) on Sunday and Monday in Week 15.


Locks of the Week
Rematches of heated rivalries, a neutral site home game in Canada and a nine-game losing streak all look good to go this week.


Packers (-2.5) at Bears