The Seattle Seahawks began their Super Bowl defense with a 13-yard run from rookie tailback Jadarian Price. It was largely downhill from there -- for both teams.
A rematch of a dud of a Super Bowl turned into a dud of a Wednesday night game that felt cursed at every turn. Seattle unveiled its championship banner at 5 p.m. local time in the middle of the week. Five plays into the game, Sam Darnold left with a hip injury, not to return. Four plays into the second half, star New England Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown joined him on the injured list after getting his ankle landed on.
The biggest gain of the first 48 minutes of the game was a 31-yard pass interference call. It set up the Patriots first scoring drive. Their second was made possible
by a roughing the kicker penalty. Seattle had a would-be walk-in touchdown rescinded by an illegal shift, leaving the score at a very boring 10-3 after three quarters.
Drake Maye, the reigning regular season MVP runner-up, had little interest testing his luck early on against the pass rush that shoved him into a dumpster his last game. His average throw went just 6.2 yards downfield. He completed a single pass that covered more than 10 yards in the air before the fourth quarter. It sent tight end Hunter Henry to the trainer's table.
Julian Love with the hit stick, Hunter Henry to the trainers
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T01:54:38.776Z
When he got frustrated and tried to force throws downfield he landed on Romeo Doubs, to whom he lobbed a shot into double coverage and generated the game's first turnover.
That was a heck of an interception by Pritchett
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T02:40:44.884Z
When he went back to Doubs, the man who signed a four-year, $68 million contract this offseason it went... poorly.
$17 million a year for Romeo Doubs
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T02:52:06.086Z
One play later, Maye threw his second interception of the game. This was not the end of the Patriots ignominy.
Trailing by three points late in the fourth quarter, the Patriots ran a play with a screen pass option to fourth-string running back Lan Larison, which was not only blown up but resulted in an illegal man downfield. So, after marching five yards backward, New England's coaching staff thought hard and... ran a play with a screen pass option to fourth-string running back Lan Larison, who was quickly blown up for a loss of two more.
Yet, this wasn't nearly as egregious as the decision Maye made with a chip shot field goal in his back pocket to send the game to overtime. Want to see a quarterback lose a game with one throw?
THAT'S HOW YOU PUT A GAME ON ICE. 🧊 @JoshuaMJobe
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 10, 2026
📺: NBC pic.twitter.com/bY2DbJchnq
This game was bad. There were encouraging signs, however. Maye and the Patriots offense cracked Seattle's aggressive blitzes from the secondary, limiting the damage Devon Witherspoon could do as an all-around chaos goblin. Maye's scrambles wound up being the most reliable offense his team could muster. Mack Hollins showed up when his team needed big plays the most.
Price looked a worthy successor to Kenneth Walker III. Michael Dickson can still punt the hell out of the ball, pinning New England inside its own 10-yard line three times. Nehemiah Pritchett, a full-time starter for the first time in his career, looked every bit worthy of his place in the Seahawk defense. Drew Lock, in his first meaningful game action since 2024, executed well on the run, rolling out and using his mobility to create the space to make plays.
Just not this one.
hell yeah i missed Drew Lock
— Christian D'Andrea (@trainisland.bsky.social) 2026-09-10T01:37:56.268Z
But this, ultimately, looked like a Week 0 Group of 6 college football game thrust into a national spotlight instead of a game worthy of ruining your next workday (or the one after, since it's WEDNESDAY). Two teams combined for 17 penalties and 148 lost yards. Everything was sloppy. Defenses ruled, but it's difficult to say just how good they were when one was going up against a journeyman backup and the other was playing like a kid who picked up Madden, set himself up with a plan, then got bored in the second half and started lobbing passes without looking to see what would happen.
Sam Darnold may be broken physically, at least temporarily. Drake Maye looked broken mentally. And football fans everywhere put in extra hours on a work night, knowing they couldn't drink the beers necessary to make this all tolerable, in order to watch a game ultimately decided by who made fewer mistakes. We don't need another Wednesday night game, NFL.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Patriots-Seahawks was proof the world doesn't need Wednesday Night Football
