Early Super Bowl Previews On Tap in NFL Preseason

Friday night, in an interconference matchup of playoff qualifiers from a season ago, the Ravens host the Lions. Baltimore is looking to solidify its Super Bowl prospects, after coming within a botched field goal of pushing last year's AFC championship game to overtime.

Detroit, meanwhile, is looking to take that next step forward, after breaking a decade-long playoff drought last season.

As of Friday morning, most online sportsbooks were listing the Ravens at -2.5 for Friday night's game, with an 'over/under' of 39.5.

Saturday gives us the Battle of New York as the Jets and Giants meet in New Jersey. The defending Super Bowl champs are trying to prove that their 9-7 record of last year was the fluke, rather than the Super Bowl title, while the Jets are just trying to get back to the playoffs, after last season's late collapse kept them home for the holidays.

The G-Men beat their stadium mates last December 29-14 in a game that jolted their season to life.

Most books have the Jets as one-point favorites for Saturday's game, with a total of 36.5. The odds of an all-New York Super Bowl are long, but stranger things have happened.

Also Saturday, the Texans are three-point home favorites over the 49ers. Houston should breeze into the playoffs unless the AFC South suddenly comes back to life, while the 49ers are legitimate Super Bowl threats.

And Monday night, the Patriots are one-point home chalk over the Eagles. Both are listed as 12/1 or less to win the Super Bowl and such a final in 2013 would be a repeat of Super Bowl 39 in Jacksonville.