The NFL did Mike Vrabel and the New England Patriots no favors by sending them to Seattle to face the Seahawks to kick off the 2026 season on Sept. 9.
To state the painfully obvious, the Patriots struggled to protect the passer, gain first downs, or even get into scoring range against Mike Macdonald’s dominant defense in Super Bowl LX. The Patriots didn’t score a point against Seattle until the fourth quarter, when the game was well under control.
They were out of answers by halftime, and the Seahawks knew it, as they leaned on field position and kicker Jason Myers on their way-too-easy, 29-13 win for the title.
Seattle was a tough matchup in February, and that should hold true in September when the Patriots head to deafening Lumen Field to face the Seahawks under their new 2025 championship banner.
Speaking with local reporters ahead of the Patriots’ OTA workout on Wednesday, Vrabel made it clear that he understands the assignment with a brutally honest response.
“We’re playing in Seattle, playing the Seahawks, the defending Super Bowl champions. That would be a tough game when and wherever we played it,” Vrabel said. “But I think we’ll eventually be ready for the challenge. We’re clearly not ready for it yet. I don’t think anybody is.
But that’s what we’ll build to. We’ll have to, so many different times, handle the environment, and that will test us early. So that will be something that we’ll focus on throughout training camp.”
Mike Vrabel admits the Patriots aren’t ready for Seattle (yet)
Vrabel’s take on facing the Seahawks was refreshing, as no Patriots fan was signing up for the insufferable build-up that comes with a Super Bowl rematch in Week 1. The sole focus of the national media will be questioning the validity of Drake Maye’s All-Pro season while crafting “hot takes” over the Patriots’ quality of opponents.
On schedule release day, this felt like a worst-case scenario for the Patriots, and it probably still is. But Vrabel did make a good point — his team now has a target to work toward over the next three-plus months.
Any game in Seattle’s stadium against that defense will be tough. So why not get it out of the way early, when even the NFL’s best teams aren’t yet operating at 100 percent speed?
Week 1 of any NFL season is typically rife with upsets. The Patriots got knocked off at home by the Las Vegas Raiders, for crying out loud, before winning 17 of their next 19 games and reaching the Super Bowl. The Raiders, as expected, stumbled to a 3-14 season and cleared out the Pete Carroll regime.
Drawing a trip to Seattle might actually be a blessing in disguise for Vrabel’s Patriots. The coaching staff will have the entire summer to zero in on that matchup and get the team ready.
They’ll also be drawing a new-look Seahawks team that no longer has Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker on offense, and key defensive players Boye Mafe, Coby Bryant, and Riq Woolen on defense.
It’s a new year, and unless your franchise has established a well-oiled machine like the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady dynasty years, every team starts from ground zero with each new league year. Unless Macdonald and Sam Darnold are poised to challenge NFL history, the Patriots should be facing a much more level playing field than fans realize, even in Seattle.
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