By Matt Parnell
Seven months. That’s how long it’s been since the Seahawks beat the Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX and hoisted the Lombardi in Santa Clara. Seven months of Seattle getting to sit on that win, and New England getting to stew on it.
And the NFL, in its infinite wisdom, decided the best way to open the 2026 season was to just run it back immediately. Wednesday night, Lumen Field, 8:20 ET on NBC and Peacock. Patriots at Seahawks. Round two before we’ve even finished round one’s parade route.
This is only the second time in league history a Week 1 opener has been a direct Super Bowl rematch. The last time was 2016, when the Broncos beat the Panthers to open the year after doing the exact same thing to them in the Super Bowl a few months earlier. History says the defending champs usually handle business in these spots too. Since 2004, teams in this exact scenario are 16-5. Seattle’s the betting favourite heading into Wednesday night.
What Seattle’s Bringing Back
Sam Darnold is QB1 again, and after the year he had, nobody in Seattle is complaining about that. The defense is still the headline act though. Devon Witherspoon is a second-team All-Pro and a problem at corner, Julian Love anchors the back end, and Nick Emmanwori flashed as a rookie enough that opposing coordinators had to game plan around him. That’s the group that made Drake Maye’s life miserable in February.
The wrinkle here is health. Ty Okada was banged up in practice this week and Emmanwori is still working back from offseason ankle surgery, so Seattle might not be at full strength in the secondary for this one. Worth watching early.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the other name that should scare New England. If their defense can’t slow him down, this could get ugly fast.
What New England’s Bringing Back
Mike Vrabel didn’t sit on his hands after the loss. New England went out and added A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs to the receiving corps this offseason, which is about as clear a signal as you can send that they think the answer to “how do we beat Seattle” starts with giving Drake Maye more weapons.
Maye’s the whole storyline for this franchise right now. Beating the reigning champs on the road, on national TV, in Week 1, in the building where they just watched Seattle celebrate, would be about the loudest possible statement he could make going into year two as the guy.
The banner drops before kickoff too. Seattle gets to unveil that championship banner with the team that just lost to them standing right there watching. If that doesn’t light a fire under the Patriots locker room, nothing will.
Injuries to Watch on Both Sides
Neither team is walking into this one at full strength, and that’s kind of fitting for two teams that just spent seven months getting ready for a rematch nobody actually asked for on a Wednesday.
Seattle’s banged up secondary is the bigger story. Second-round rookie safety Bud Clark broke his ankle on the very first defensive snap of the preseason against Tennessee and is already on IR for the year, which is brutal considering John Schneider drafted the kid to push Ty Okada for a starting job. Nick Emmanwori is dealing with the same ankle that never fully healed after Super Bowl LX, and as of this week his Week 1 status is still up in the air, coach Mike Macdonald has openly said he doesn’t know if his second-year safety will play. Add in Rodney Thomas II working back from hand surgery, and Seattle’s safety room looks a lot thinner than the one that just won a title.
New England’s dealing with its own attrition up front. Edge rusher Harold Landry has been on the PUP list all camp recovering from offseason knee surgery, and while Vrabel has left the door open for him to be activated before kickoff, it’s not a lock. The good news for the Patriots is star cornerback Christian Gonzalez looks fully healthy after a camp scare, which matters a lot against a Seattle receiving room that includes Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Bottom line: both defenses could be missing key pieces Wednesday night, which might turn this into more of a shootout than either coaching staff wants.
The Vrabel Off-Field Storyline Nobody Asked For
Look, we can’t talk about Vrabel heading into this season without mentioning that he spent the offseason as the main character of NFL media instead of just a guy trying to fix a Super Bowl loss. The Dianna Russini saga followed him from resort photos all the way to a full-blown Athletic standards investigation, and somehow the guy still found time to install a new offense. Say what you want about Vrabel, but the man compartmentalizes better than anyone in the building. Most head coaches lose sleep over a blown coverage. This guy had reporters camped outside his summer and still walked into Week 1 with a top defense and a chip on his shoulder. Whatever keeps him focused, keep doing it, Mike. Just maybe pick a vacation spot with fewer photographers next time.
Prediction
Give me Seattle in a tighter one than the Super Bowl was. The defense travels, home openers with a banner ceremony are always electric, and I don’t trust the Patriots secondary to hang with Smith-Njigba for four quarters. Seahawks win, Patriots leave Seattle with a lot to think about for the second time in seven months.
Set your DVRs. Or don’t, and just watch it live like the rest of us degenerates. Kickoff is Wednesday at 8:20 ET.
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