The Seattle Seahawks win 13-10 over the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl rematch to open the 2026 NFL Season. Drake Maye shrunk in the moment, throwing three interceptions, including the game-losing pick on the final drive. The Seahawks barely outgained New England yardage-wise, 285-to-277. Seattle also had the advantage in passing yards, 188-to-166, as New England held the rushing advantage 109-97.
Sam Darnold got hurt on the opening drive and was out for the rest of the game, replaced by Drew Lock. The backup’s final stat line: 16-for-22, 187 yards, and one touchdown.
The Patriots managed to finally get into Seattle territory on their first drive of the second quarter, before a defensive pass interference call on Josh Jobe gave the Pats the ball at the two-yard line. The next play, Maye floated a ball to rookie tight end Eli Raridon for the first touchdown of the 2026 NFL season. This wound up being his only catch of the game, putting New England up 7-0. Both teams exchanged punts before Seattle let the clock run down to end the first half with the Patriots leading 3-0.
The Patriots got up to the 32-yard line on their opening drive before kicker Andy Borregales trotted out for a 50-yard field goal. Borregales, who went a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals 50 yards or more, nailed the 50-yarder with ease to make it a two-possession game. Unfortunately, A.J. Brown went down during the drive with an apparent ankle injury and didn’t play the rest of the game. He notched three catches for 26 yards before the injury.
Both teams exchanged punts before the Seahawks took over on the Patriots’ 43-yard line. Cooper Kupp seemingly caught a touchdown pass. However, an illegal shift penalty nullified the play, forcing Seattle to settle for a 30-yard field goal, which Jason Myers easily nailed to make it 10-3. Kupp finished the night with two receptions for 35 yards.
The Patriots went and drove into Seahawks territory before Drake Maye unloaded a deep shot on a play-action down the left sideline intended for Romeo Doubs. It got tipped and then intercepted by Nehemiah Pritchett. Seattle took the ball and drove into Pats territory before being faced with a 4th and 1. Lock found a wide-open Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a short curl for the first down. JSN found a lane and outraced several Patriots players for a 45-yard touchdown to tie the game at 10-10. He wound up with eight receptions for 122 yards and a touchdown on the day.
The Patriots nearly had a first down if new free-agent signing Romeo Doubs hadn’t dropped a wide-open pass. He ended the night with no catches. On the next play, Maye threw a dangerous pass intended for Demario Douglas that was intercepted by Julian Love. Seattle wound up getting a field goal after a goal-line stand from New England. The Patriots wound up taking almost all of the 5:50 remaining on the game clock on their final drive. Unfortunately, it ended with Maye throwing an interception in the end zone to cap off a stinker of a performance in this Super Bowl rematch.
In Super Bowl 60, the Seahawks swarmed Maye and the Patriots’ offense with complex blitz packages and didn’t give them time to think. New England head coach Mike Vrabel adjusted accordingly, making sure the offensive line picked up most of the blitz packages. This gave Maye enough time to make his reads. Lots of pre-snap recognition was used to identify blitzing linebackers and defensive backs, which the offensive line did well in picking up.
Both of the Patriots’ scoring drives were aided by Seattle penalties. There was a pass interference on their touchdown drive, as well as the roughing the punter penalty on their field goal drive. In total, the Seahawks had 10 penalties for 98 yards. Although New England had seven penalties for 50 yards, the Seahawks’ penalties directly led to all of their points.
A great quality about Maye is that he can usually put enough zip on a ball to get to his receivers without throwing absolute bullets at them. However, a couple of Maye’s throws, specifically the first-half flea-flicker, were underthrown.
Maye’s final line: 23-33, 178 yards passing, one touchdown, and three interceptions.
Unfortunately, Maye made the same mistake he made in the Super Bowl multiple times. He tried to go for the deep ball and proceeded to make dangerous throws, which resulted in all three of his interceptions. Maye proved the “schedule merchant” crowd right with this performance. However, Maye was playing fine up until his first interception. He turned into a completely different quarterback during the last quarter and a half. He took unnecessary risks that would’ve been unheard of last season, at least before the Super Bowl.
Although New England had 109 yards rushing in this game, only five of those yards came in the third quarter. The Seahawks were able to start mounting the comeback thanks to repeated stops on the ground, as Seattle notched nine tackles for loss in the game, with five coming in the fourth quarter. After 25 yards rushing on their first drive of the game, New England’s rushing attack was largely ineffective afterwards. Rhamondre Stevenson kept getting met behind the line of scrimmage. He finished with 51 yards on 18 carries, while notching five receptions for 44 yards. It wasn’t until the early stages of the fourth quarter that the running game showed some more promise, when it notched another 34 yards on the ground.
Both teams get an extended break before their week two matchups. Seattle will take on the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. The Patriots will head back to Foxborough as they take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium.
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