The New England Patriots’ road to another Super Bowl berth begins Wednesday night against the team that spoiled their championship aspirations last season: the Seattle Seahawks.
With most of their Super Bowl roster still intact, Seattle enters the 2026 campaign with the second-best odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl 61 and the fourth-best odds to win it all. Suffice to say, traveling to Seattle to take on the reigning champs is a tremendously tough way for New England to open its season.
The Seahawks’ 29-13 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl 60 was even more lopsided than the final score suggests. Pats quarterback Drake Maye tossed two interceptions and was sacked six times. New England was held scoreless until the fourth quarter.
It was an utter beatdown the last time these two teams faced off, but will it have any effect on how Mike Vrabel’s group approaches Week 1? Former Patriots safety Devin McCourty joined Tom E. Curran on the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast to share his perspective.
“I think for them there was no pressure. You went out there, went to San Fran, got your butt whooped. Now you get to go back and play this team who only lost five guys. They’re angry because the Rams brought back Aaron Donald got Myles Garrett. Everybody’s talking about them and they want to prove a point. So like there’s going to be this pressure on Seattle.”
The Los Angeles Rams are favored over the Seahawks to win the NFC West. They’re the favorite to win Super Bowl 61, and McCourty believes that has put a chip on Seattle’s shoulder as it begins its title defense.
As for the Patriots, McCourty hopes they’ve turned the page on what happened in February.
“You get to go just play free, see how your season is going to go, go play that opener, go have fun. I think they have to take that approach, not worry as much about what happened last year, especially when you put into the fact of 20 something guys are gone from last year.”
While they may have put their Super Bowl 60 performance behind them, the Patriots will still face some pressure when they take the field in front of a raucous Seattle crowd. It’ll be a huge test for Vrabel’s group out of the gate, and McCourty sees that being beneficial for the long run.
“There will not be a more hostile environment they probably play in this year than Week 1. And if you go out there and you play well, that’s a confidence boost.” he said. “I think they have to have that approach. They need the leadership. They need those guys to go and preach that and lead the way.”
The Seahawks are currently 3.5-point favorites over the Patriots. It should be an entertaining rematch between two reigning conference champs with their sights set on another Super Bowl appearance.
“I think it’s going to be a heck of a matchup. I think with everything building up off last year, it creates this really cool atmosphere that both teams are going to be excited and want to win,” McCourty said.
Kickoff is set for 8:20 p.m. ET Wednesday night on NBC.
Also in the episode:
- Quick fire on all of the latest Christian Gonzalez news
- How does Curran expect the Gonzalez situation to play out?
- UNC wrapped up in an alleged scandal.
- More from Devin McCourty.
- Irrelevant Questions with Caleb Lomu.
