The Seahawks have already given fans one of those opening-night wins that lingers. And the shape of it felt awfully familiar.
Seattle’s comeback against New England on Wednesday night was not the first time this team has opened a season by staring at a fourth-quarter deficit and still walking off with a victory. The last time it happened was 2019, when the Seahawks trailed Cincinnati 17-14 entering the fourth quarter before Russell Wilson found Tyler Lockett for a 44-yard touchdown on the first play of the final period. Seattle never gave the lead back.
There was also the 2016 opener, when a sleepy game against Miami turned into a wild finish. Russell Wilson hit Doug Baldwin on a short touchdown pass to finish a drive that included two fourth-down conversions, and the winning score came with 31 seconds left.
But the Patriots game lines up most closely with another opener entirely: 2013 against Carolina.
That one had the same basic rhythm. Seattle spent most of the game grinding without much payoff, settling for a pair of field goals through three quarters while the defense kept the team afloat.
Then came the jolt - a 43-yard touchdown pass that flipped the game late. And when Carolina looked poised to answer with a go-ahead drive, an unexpected turnover slammed the door and let Seattle drain the clock.
The final score that day was 12-7, Seahawks.
The details are not identical, but the resemblance is hard to miss. In 2013, Russell Wilson’s 43-yard strike to Jermaine Kearse came on a straight go route against double coverage. Against New England, Drew Lock connected with Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a 45-yard touchdown, with JSN working a short stop route in soft zone before outrunning nearly the entire Patriots defense.
Even the late-game turnover had the same kind of finishing touch, though the timing was different. In 2013, DeAngelo Williams fumbled with a little over five minutes left after Earl Thomas forced it and Tony McDaniel recovered. On Wednesday, the Seahawks ended things with an interception in the final seconds, and New England never got the ball back.
That last play was ugly from Drake Maye’s side, but it was also a full-team defensive win. Derick Hall’s sack on the previous snap raised the stakes.
Byron Murphy pushed the pocket from the inside. Demarcus Lawrence, still moving like he has no interest in aging, stepped over a Morgan Moses cut attempt and got a hand in Maye’s face.
Julian Love had the tight end covered underneath. Rodney Thomas, who had already tipped Maye’s first interception, held the deep middle.
That left Josh Jobe in position to stay with Mack Hollins, who had been a problem late.
Then Jobe made the play, and that mattered just as much as the mistake.
It was the kind of sequence that brings back memories of the old Legion of Boom days: talented pieces, all in sync, no obvious weak spot, everyone feeding off everyone else. On Wednesday, the Seahawks defense delivered when the game was hanging in the balance, just like that 2013 group did. And that opener ended with Seattle’s first championship run.
In Other News...
Seahawks Already Have A Dante Fowler Problem They Didnt Need
Dante Fowler Jr. arrived in Seattle on a one-year deal as a veteran pass-rush add, but his first game in a Seahawks uniform offered only a small sample of what the team might actually have in mind for him. In Week 1 against the New England Patriots, he saw limited snaps and did not record an official statistic, though he did help create a pressure that ended in an interception. For a defense looking to keep its rush lively, that kind of cameo at least showed a flash of why the signing made sense.
The broader question is whether that flash turns into anything more significant, because the Seahawks do not appear eager to overhaul their approach just to squeeze more out of Fowler. The defensive staff seems comfortable sticking with its current pass-rushing formula, which leaves Fowler in an uncertain spot if his role stays this narrow. For now, the veteran edge presence looks more like insurance than a featured piece, and that is not usually where a player wants to be this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Fans Have An Ugly Lumen Field Debate After Wild Opener Brawl
The Seahawks got the kind of opening night result that can energize a stadium, rallying past the Patriots after Drew Lock helped spark a comeback at Lumen Field. But alongside the football, there was an ugly scene in the stands when a seating dispute between a New England fan and Seattle supporters boiled over into a larger fight that pulled in multiple people and forced police intervention.
What happened next in the crowd is now part of the conversation around the opener, with the Patriots fan arrested and no further details on the charges released. For a fan base that came to watch a stirring finish on the field, the incident left a sour aftertaste and another reminder of how quickly a routine game-day argument can turn into something far messier. [Read more 🡒]
DreMont Jones Just Turned A Painful Patriots Hit Into Drama
The Seahawks got a jolt in their season opener against the Patriots when Sam Darnold went down with a hip injury after taking a sack from DreMont Jones early in the game. What followed off the field only added to the conversation, as Jones posted a video of the play on social media and immediately set off a mixed reaction from fans watching the aftermath as much as the hit itself.
Mike Macdonald later said there is no fracture, which at least cleared away the worst-case concern, but it did not answer the bigger question for Seattles season. Darnolds recovery timeline is still uncertain, and for a team trying to settle in early, the status of its quarterback now looms over everything that came out of an otherwise routine defensive play. [Read more 🡒]