Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks - Source: Unsplash

Seattle’s front six sacked Drake Maye six times at Super Bowl LX back in February, forcing three turnovers, including two interceptions, headlined by a Uchenna Nwosu pick-six that left onlookers in no doubt as to who the best team on the planet truly was. Jason Myers set a Super Bowl record five field goals as the Seahawks stormed to a rampant 29-13 triumph, and by the time Julian Love picked off an ill-advised throw down the middle in the third quarter, the air had already gone out of Levi’s Stadium. New England didn’t score until the fourth quarter, with the 4.5-point spread that online betting sites were flaunting pre-game obliterated by Mike Macdonald’s men. 

That’s the version of these two teams the football world walked away remembering in February. It’s not the version that’s about to show up at Lumen Field on September 9 in an immediate rematch that will kick off the NFL’s 2026 season. 

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Seahawks and Patriots Gear Up for Immediate Super Bowl Rematch 

Seattle spent the spring watching its championship depth chart get raided. Kenneth Walker III, fresh off Super Bowl MVP honors, cashed in with Kansas City. Riq Woolen signed a one-year deal in Philadelphia. Coby Bryant landed in Chicago. And Boye Mafe — a rotational piece, sure, but a piece of the machine that made Mike Macdonald’s defense terrifying — took $60 million from Cincinnati and didn’t look back. 

New England, meanwhile, went out and addressed the problem that saw them dismantled in such lopsided fashion in Santa Clara. Maye didn’t have a primary target in February. He certainly does now as Mike Vrabel’s staff extracted superstar wideout A.J. Brown from Philadelphia in a trade that had been telegraphed since the combine, reuniting Brown with the coach who drafted him in Tennessee. And if that wasn’t enough, the former Super Bowl champion has been paired with free-agent Romeo Doubs to give Maye something else he lacked in February: real answers when the first read isn’t there. 

But despite one team being somewhat picked apart and the other strengthening significantly, online betting sites still make the defending champions the favorites to emerge from the kickoff game with the win. The early Patriots Vs Seahawks Week 1 odds make Seattle a narrow four-point favorite to knock off New England once again, just half a point shorter than the perceived difference between the two teams six months ago. 

So, can the Seahawks cover? Will the Patriots run them close? Let’s find out.

Cowboys Push Eagles All the Way 

Banner night carries a specific dread that no other regular-season opener replicates — the defending champions aren’t just favored; they’re favored while unveiling a championship banner in front of thousands of people who’ve been waiting seven months to celebrate, and one bad half can turn a coronation into a nightmare. Ask Jalen Carter about that.

Last September, the Eagles’ star tackle got ejected before Philadelphia had run a single legal snap — spit at Dak Prescott, gone before the ceremony smoke had cleared — and Dallas raced to four straight scoring drives against the reigning champs. An 8.5-point “gimme” turned into a 58-yard Jake Elliott prayer and a fumble forced by a rookie linebacker in his NFL debut. Philly eventually got the job done, winning out 24-20 against a game Cowboys side, but they never truly looked like covering 8.5 points. 

KC’s Differing Fortunes 

A year earlier, Kansas City damned the naysayers. They headed into 2024’s Kickoff Game as narrow three-point favorites against Lamar Jackson and a Baltimore Ravens side that they had just vanquished in the previous season’s AFC Championship Game. The Chiefs followed up that win with a walk-off overtime Super Bowl repeat win against the 49ers in New Orleans, and they were about to put the rest of the league on notice: The three-peat is on. 

The Chiefs got a signature moment from rookie Xavier Worthy — a 21-yard touchdown run on his literal first career touch. But deep into the fourth quarter, it became clear that the Ravens weren’t at Arrowhead to simply make up the numbers. Kansas City led and looked on course for the win, but they still needed Isaiah Likely’s foot to land a half-inch out of bounds as time expired to survive 27-20. A three-point spread turned into a photo finish decided by replay review.

Detroit didn’t bother with the drama in 2023. Kansas City hadn’t lost a season opener in nearly a decade, and Dan Campbell walked into Arrowhead and gambled on fourth-and-short from his own 17 anyway. Brian Branch’s pick-six of Patrick Mahomes, David Montgomery’s go-ahead score — an outright 21-20 upset that told the league Detroit wasn’t playing nice anymore. The Lions headed to the home of the champions as a 4.5-point underdog but went on to win outright, let alone simply covering the spread.