The Seattle Seahawks did it again — though that doesn’t really feel accurate given the events of Super Bowl LX and Wednesday night’s NFL Kickoff Game in primetime. But the result was the same, with Seattle taking down the New England Patriots and forcing Drake Maye and the Patriots offense into mistake after mistake. This time, however, they did it without Sam Darnold, who exited the game after just five snaps with a hip injury.
Drew Lock came into the game and orchestrated a rockfight of a comeback. The final score of 13-10 pretty much tells the story of offensive struggles, but it was the Seahawks defense that delivered the final haymaker, intercepting Maye in the end zone with less than 30 seconds on the clock. But while we should all be measured about our takes coming off the literal first game of the 2026 NFL season, where’s the fun in that? Let’s fire off some overreactions and intrusive thoughts after the first 60 minutes of the year.
The Seahawks are still a playoff team without Sam Darnold
Make no mistake, the Seahawks losing Darnold makes life harder. Not only are they breaking in a new offensive coordinator, Brian Fleury, but now the hip injury — one that’s unspecified currently but appears serious — means they’ll have to rely on a less experienced quarterback, Drew Lock. That raises the level of difficulty, but in no way do I believe that limits what the Seahawks are capable of.
Because of how steady Darnold was in the playoffs, people seem to forget how electric the defense had to be in the regular season, as their quarterback had the second-most turnovers in the NFL. Mike Macdonald is still the steady hand in charge of that arm of this team, and he also has an experienced backup in Lock who can do the most important thing: Don’t make stupid mistakes. Lock proved that, even if it was a bit touch-and-go at points, by going 16-of-22 for 187 yards with a touchdown, no turnovers and 13 rushing yards.
As long as this Seahawks stays healthy, I don’t see a world in which Seattle isn’t still going to be one of the better teams in the NFC. Can they take down the Rams in the NFC West? I don’t know if I’d go that far, but they’ll still be in line for a playoff spot when it’s said and done.
Is Drake Maye actually just mid?
This brings me no joy to even consider, but it’s becoming a little bit of an intrusive thought. This isn’t to take away from what Drake Maye did in the 2025 season. He was phenomenal and a legitimate MVP candidate, even if he didn’t end up with the hardware. You’re not going to be able to take that away from him. However, we also saw plenty of struggles in the playoffs and he just followed it up with a dubious performance in a big spotlight.
There’s going to be a lot of focus put on the game-sealing interception Maye threw, as there should be. But don’t let that allow you to forget that he coughed up three interceptions on the night, all of which felt like they could’ve been avoided.
I’m still at least pretty sure that Maye is simply a young quarterback who has legitimate flashes of brilliance but is still growing into a more consistent player. That’s all we’re seeing right now, which means it’s something he should easily bounce back from. At the same time, you at least have to be having the idea that he could fall back to Earth crossing your mind.
Maybe Romeo Doubs was the reason Romeo Doubs never broke out
Romeo Doubs entering free agency this offseason was a bit fascinating. That’s not to say that he wasn’t considered a good free agency deal as one of the top receivers on the market at just $17 million per season over four years. What it is to say is the conversation around him really took hold. For a player who had never had more than 750 yards in a single season, there was a lot of discussion about the Packers spreading the ball around or his injuries being the problem.
While I’ll accept at least part of the Packers part of that equation, maybe the issue was simply that Doubs never separated himself from that group, not that he wasn’t allowed to separate because of the offense. After all, he’s played seasons of 17 and 16 games in his career and still never crossed that 750-yard threshold.
This is probably a tad hyperbolic of a take, but his performance on Wednesday night was simply tough to watch. The wide-open drop on a crucial fourth-quarter drive. Putting up a questionable jump that led to Maye’s first pick. Only getting three targets on the night. There’s a lot to question here, especially with AJ Brown going down with an injury as well in this game. And if Doubs becomes the No. 1 in this offense, that has to feel a bit uncomfortable after this loss.
Seattle’s backfield is a fantasy wasteland
For however long Zach Charbonnet is out of commission as he returns from a torn ACL, I’m dreading the idea of having a piece of the Seahawks backfield in fantasy football. That’s not to say that they don’t have an effective rushing attack, that someone like Jadarian Price isn’t a good player — it is to say that we might’ve forgotten just how much this offense, even under new direction, likes to share the load in the backfield.
Price had a good debut with the touches he got. He rushed for 52 yards on just 10 carries and caught both of his targets for six yards. However, the concerning part is that George Holani also got eight carries on the night and Emanuel Wilson added two of his own too. Put even more simply, Holani and Wilson combined for the same number of carries and one fewer target in the pass game than Price did.
Because Kenneth Walker III was so dynamic en route to winning a Super Bowl, it seems like the fantasy public forgot that only happened because Charbonnet was injured. Before that, it was impossible to know which back to play in fantasy in any given week, or if it was even worth playing either at times. I fear that we’ve entered the same situation with different faces, even with Charbonnet out still.
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