Patriots open at Seattle in a Super Bowl LX rematch
Wednesday's opener in Seattle is a Super Bowl LX rematch, and A.J. Brown makes his Patriots debut against the team that beat New England for the ring.
AJ Brown debuts in Seattle, and it's a Super Bowl LX rematch
Wednesday night in Seattle is a first for this franchise — New England has never played on a Wednesday — and the opponent makes it stranger still: it's a Super Bowl LX rematch, the same Seahawks who beat the Patriots for the Lombardi Trophy last February. Six days out, the story with the most juice has nothing to do with the scoreboard from that night. A.J. Brown makes his Patriots debut across the field from the team that ended New England's season, reunited with Mike Vrabel for the first time since Tennessee drafted him in the second round in 2019 and Vrabel coached him as a rookie.
From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: Among the big things we are going to see in the NFL Opener is the debut of AJ Brown in a #Patriots uniform. And that'll be significant for all parties.
Kevin Byard III, one of six new captains this week, has already done his homework. "I watched film of Super Bowl LX, can expect to see similar things, but they have new OC (Brian Fleury)," Byard said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. He's right that the roster has moved: Klint Kubiak left to become the Raiders' head coach, Kenneth Walker III signed a three-year, $45 million deal with Kansas City, and it's Fleury — promoted off the 49ers' staff, where he spent seven seasons before adding run-game coordinator duties last year — calling his first plays as an NFL coordinator.
The one lineup question New England still hasn't answered is at running back. TreVeyon Henderson (ankle) has missed practice all week, and Field Yates of ESPN has flagged an expanded Week 1 role for Rhamondre Stevenson if that continues — the full situation is in TreVeyon Henderson still out, Patriots open at Seattle in 6 days.
Six captains, and Maye's name is the new one on the list
Mike Vrabel told the room at Tuesday's rainy practice who the players had elected: safety Kevin Byard III, tight end Hunter Henry, cornerback Marcus Jones, quarterback Drake Maye, tackle Morgan Moses and linebacker Robert Spillane. It's a peer vote, and four of the six — Maye, Henry, Spillane and Jones — wore the armband a year ago on the team that went to Super Bowl LX; Byard and Moses are first-timers, stepping in for Harold Landry III (now on PUP) and Brenden Schooler (now on reserve/NFI).
Having Maye voted a captain by the room he throws to — still just his second season — says something about where his standing is heading into the opener. Moses, one of the new captains, was blunt about what comes next: preparing for Week 1 is "Unknown, coming off preseason when not a lot of things are shown," he said, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports.
The timing matters, too. This lands in a locker room that has absorbed close to 10 new arrivals in the past week, with Vrabel blunt that getting them up to speed on New England's terminology fast is the job right now.
Last time out: the exhibition slate closes at 1-1-1
New England's preseason wrapped August 28 with a 13-37 loss at Cleveland, finishing the exhibition slate at 1-1-1 — a mark that says nothing about the real team, since Maye, A.J. Brown, Rhamondre Stevenson and Romeo Doubs all sat that one out. Behren Morton started in Maye's place and had a rough final line: 18-for-28 for 123 yards, 2 interceptions and no touchdowns, with 18 yards on 2 scrambles.
Browns13-37
Eagles24-21
Colts13-13The one clean bright spot was rookie receiver Kyle Williams, who turned 2 targets into 2 catches for 55 yards and a touchdown against the Browns — exactly the kind of night Vrabel had in mind back in early August when he said, "I really, really know that Kyle is going to help us. His speed is going to help us," per 985TheSportsHub. In a receiver room this crowded, that's how a rookie makes the coach's word stick.
Seattle's rebuilt offense opens as the favorite
Wednesday night in Seattle carries a line: New England opened as an underdog, with the number set at 3.5 points and the total pinned at a middling 44.5. That makes the Patriots underdogs for the first snap of the year, six months after sharing a field with the same team on the sport's biggest stage.
Seattle's own preseason gave its beat writers plenty to sort out — the Seahawks went 0-2-1 in exhibition play and were held to a 9-9 tie loss at Kansas City in their last tune-up, evidence about a roster still installing Brian Fleury's offense more than a read on the defending champions. Whatever that offense looks like in Week 1, it will be doing it in front of a Lumen Field crowd that hasn't stopped talking about February, and New England will find out fast whether A.J. Brown's first afternoon in a Patriots uniform can answer it.