The Patriots did not leave Seattle with a loss that looked impossible on the scoreboard. A 13-10 defeat on the road to the defending champion Seahawks is the kind of result that can be lived with in a vacuum. What made Wednesday night so hard to swallow was the path they took to get there.
New England had chances, and then more chances, and then one last chance that slipped away in a mess of fourth-quarter interceptions. By the end, the game felt less like a clean loss than a stack of regrets.
The biggest one came when Drake Maye, who had the Patriots in position to at least tie it late, unraveled in the fourth quarter. All three of New England’s drives in the final period ended with Maye interceptions, including a baffling underthrown alley-oop to Mack Hollins in the final minute. It was the kind of sequence that turned a winnable night into a sickening opening act.
There were other swings, too. Seattle lost starting quarterback Sam Darnold to a hip injury after its first offensive series, but backup Drew Lock settled in and delivered a calm, efficient performance. He completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown, and for long stretches he looked far more polished than the scouting report would suggest.
Then came the injuries that kept changing the shape of the game. A.J.
Brown, the Patriots’ prized offseason addition, left in the third quarter with what appeared to be a high ankle sprain and did not return. Before that, he had been exactly the kind of difference-maker New England brought him in to be.
Brown made his presence felt early. He converted a third-and-4 near midfield in the second quarter for a 5-yard gain, prompting NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth to say, “[The Patriots] have answers that they didn’t have in the Super Bowl.”
Not long after that, Brown drew a 34-yard pass interference penalty on a third-down flea-flicker, setting up the Patriots’ only touchdown. Eli Raridon finished that drive with a 2-yard scoring catch in the second quarter.
Once Brown exited, the Patriots’ offense lost a crucial piece. And if the Kayshon Boutte move already had you scratching your head, this game probably made that worse.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the Seahawks player who tilted the night. He had five catches for 53 yards at halftime, respectable but not overwhelming.
In the second half, he became the engine. He opened Seattle’s first drive of the fourth quarter with a 13-yard catch, then three plays later caught a short pass on fourth-and-1 from the Patriots 45, slipped into a soft spot in the zone, and outran the defense to the end zone to tie the game at 10.
Lumen Field, quiet until then, came alive.
The Patriots also got a promising debut from edge rusher Gabe Jacas, who made his presence felt with a second-quarter sack of Lock for a 7-yard loss and a hard tackle on Jadarian Price that resulted in a 3-yard loss.
Still, there was frustration baked into plenty of New England’s night beyond the turnovers. Romeo Doubs, signed in the offseason to a four-year, $68 million deal, had three targets in his Patriots debut and still does not have his first catch.
He came close on a second-and-14 play from the Patriots 22 early in the fourth quarter, but Maye’s throw bounced off his hands. On the next snap, Love picked off Maye at the Patriots 47.
Tre’Veyon Henderson’s absence mattered, too. The speedy second-year running back was inactive with an ankle injury, and without his threat alongside Rhamondre Stevenson, Lan Larison and Corey Kiner combined for just 11 rushing yards and 9 receiving yards.
There were a few small bright spots around the margins. Jadarian Price ran for 52 yards on 10 carries for Seattle, including a 13-yard burst on the game’s first play from scrimmage. And Patriots punter Mitch Wishnowsky, filling in for injured holdover Bryce Baringer, matched up well with Seattle’s Michael Dickson by pinning punts at the Seahawks’ 7, 10 and 14-yard lines in the first half.
But the night belonged to the missed opportunities. The Patriots came in with hope, had enough offense to make it interesting, and then watched the fourth quarter get away from them in the worst possible way.
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