The New England Patriots are officially set to kick off the upcoming NFL season in Seattle.
It will mark 213 days since the Patriots walked off the field in Santa Clara on the wrong side of Super Bowl LX against the Seahawks.
While winning the September matchup won’t change those results, there will be some extra motivation.
“I think you always have a chip on your shoulder when you’re up against somebody who you previously lost to the year before,” captain Brenden Schooler said. “I’m treating it just
like another game. I’m going to go out there, I’m going to be composed just like I was in the Super Bowl when we played them. Nothing’s really changed except just the date we’re playing each other and the location we’re playing each other. So I’m going to go out there and kind of treat the game just how I did in the Super Bowl.”
Following their Super Bowl run last February, the Patriots had a short offseason before returning to the facility for the voluntary offseason program. New England will kickoff OTAs next week before wrapping up the program with minicamp ahead of training camp later this summer.
For fellow captain Marcus Jones, the opener becoming official is another reminder that the season is approaching, but there is plenty of work still to do.
“I feel like at the end of the day, it’s a new year. I’m happy about the situation of hearing the schedule off, the fact that we’re getting closer to what we love to be a part of. But at the end of the day, like, we’re not looking too far forward,” Jones said.
“Of course, Super Bowl rematch. But at the end of the day, controlling what we can control. And it’s a lot of things that we got to get installed, training camp that comes down to it, build during preseason and everything. But we’re excited about Week 1.”
Schooler called the Week 1 matchup a “great opportunity” for the Patriots to showcase the improvements they have made — and continue to make — this offseason.
A win in Seattle would provide a strong start for a team hoping to return to the Super Bowl and finish with a different result.
“At the end of the day, we put in a lot of work. You get all the way to where you wanted to be and we didn’t get the job done,” Jones said. “I mean, we understand it, but we know our potential and we know how far we can go. You have a lot of guys that’s back on the team that’s been in those situations, so we understand that. We don’t want that to happen again.”
