Patriots Lose to Seahawks in NFL Kickoff Game as Drake Maye Struggles and Drew Lock Steps Up

The Super Bowl LX rematch with the Seattle Seahawks went just as poorly as it could have for the New England Patriots. Not only did they lose again, 13-10, but they blew a double-digit lead to a backup quarterback, while Drake Maye had one of the worst outings of his professional career on a national stage.

Last year's MVP runner-up completed 23 of 33 passes for 178 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions — all of which came in the fourth quarter on back-to-back-to-back possessions. After running through their (easy) schedule in 2025, we are left with questions about the reigning AFC champions.

As for the Seahawks, fans are anxiously awaiting an update on quarterback Sam Darnold, who suffered a hip injury on the fifth play from scrimmage. With that being said, Wednesday night was a win for Seattle in more ways than one. Drew Lock stepped into the lineup and completed 16 of 22 passes for 187 yards with a touchdown to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and the Seahawks started off the 2026 campaign by defeating the team they took down seven months ago to win a Super Bowl title.

The NFL Kickoff Game was a wild ride. So let's dive into some overreactions from the first game of the season.

Will Campbell is going to cement himself at LT

Will Campbell's struggles in the postseason last year were well-documented, especially in the Super Bowl. Campbell allowed 14 pressures against the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX, the most by any player in a game in 2025, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, and allowed one of Seattle's five sacks. Was he going to be able to exorcise those demons in Week 1?

On Wednesday night, the former No. 4 overall pick allowed one sack and one hurry while registering an 84.4 pass-blocking grade over at PFF. That's a pretty solid outing for a young left tackle going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Campbell did register two penalties: an illegal block in the back in the third quarter and a hold in the fourth quarter. Limiting penalties will be important for Campbell as he builds his case to be Maye's franchise left tackle, but Week 1 was a step in the right direction.

Drake Maye is not who we thought he was

Maye did not look like a top-10 quarterback on Wednesday night. I'm not sure he looked like a top-32 quarterback, to be honest. In fact, Drake Maye just didn't look like Drake Maye at all.

Last year, Maye became the only quarterback in the past 20 seasons to lead the league in completion percentage despite owning the longest average target depth in the NFL (9.1 air yards). If we are talking about pushing the ball down the field efficiently, Maye was ELITE. However, he averaged just 5.4 yards per attempt in Week 1.

I'll admit, Josh McDaniels' play-calling was confusing. To call it conservative is an understatement. It felt like when Darnold went down, the Patriots just wanted to run the ball, play defense and get out of there with a 10-0 win. They didn't want to score points or step on the throats of their opponents. They wanted to run the clock.

However, we can't blame play-calling for everything. I mean, Maye was literally passing up open touchdowns. This play brought back memories of Justin Herbert being shell-shocked in the playoff loss to New England last year.

So, is Maye who we think he is? A star quarterback who deserves to be ranked somewhere in the top 10? No ... at least not yet.

Maye is a franchise quarterback to build around, but he's not in that superstar conversation where the MVP signal-callers deserve to be. He was the reason for the Patriots' loss to a backup quarterback on Wednesday night. Throwing that interception to Josh Jobe on third-and-5 when you are in field goal range, ready to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, is a rookie mistake. It may be worse than a rookie mistake.

The Seahawks can reach the playoffs without Sam Darnold

No one wants to envision a reality where Darnold is diagnosed with a hip labral tear and has to go under the knife, but it's possible. I don't think the Seahawks would look at someone like Kirk Cousins, Andy Dalton or Tanner McKee. I think they would roll with Lock and Jalen Milroe.

Lock has starting experience, having won 10 of his 28 career starts with the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Seahawks. He probably ranks somewhere in the top 10 of the NFL's current backup quarterbacks and can lead Seattle to the playoffs if it comes down to it.

Lock will have to do what he accomplished on Wednesday night: Take care of the football, run the offense, rely on your playmakers and the elite defense that carried the franchise to the Super Bowl just a few months ago. I wouldn't bet on the Seahawks to win the competitive NFC West with Lock under center, but they could grab a wild card spot. The Green Bay Packers got in last year with a 9-7-1 record. Plus, we saw the Houston Texans carry a struggling C.J. Stroud to the postseason as well. They even managed to win a playoff game while Stroud was either fumbling or throwing interceptions every other play.

Jadarian Price needs to play more right now

Speaking of Lock relying on his weapons, one weapon that should be in line for an automatic promotion is rookie running back Jadarian Price.

Hey, Mike Macdonald and Brian Fleury, can we just fast-forward through the part where you make your first-year player "earn his touches" or whatever? Price was your best running back on Wednesday night — and this was his first NFL action! He didn't play a snap in the preseason, yet he is clearly ready to fill in for Zach Charbonnet.

I know the Seahawks staff respects George Holani, but let's just start treating Price like he's RB1.

CarriesYardsAverage

Jadarian Price

10

52

5.2

George Holani

8

29

3.6

Emanuel Wilson

2

3

1.5

Romeo Doubs was a bad investment

The Patriots revamped their wide receiver room this offseason by trading for A.J. Brown and signing Romeo Doubs in free agency to a four-year, $68 million contract. Wednesday night was disastrous for both. The former suffered a high ankle sprain that will sideline him for some time, while the latter couldn't catch.

Doubs reeled in zero of his three targets, including a disastrous drop that will be tough to forget.

Doubs was Jordan Love's most reliable target during his time in Green Bay. He dropped just three passes on 85 targets last year. Yet, it's clear Maye isn't as comfortable with him as he was with Mack Hollins (five targets) and DeMario Douglas (seven targets). So, did the Patriots pay $68 million to a player who could end up being their WR4?

Patriots' 2026 season is going to be very different from 2025

Patriots fans hate when you bring up their 2025 schedule. It was the easiest strength-of-schedule played since the 1999 Rams, and the 2025 Patriots were definitely not the 1999 Rams. This year, New England has the sixth-hardest strength of schedule overall, and the toughest Weeks 1-4 strength of schedule entering a season in the last 40 years. Up next are the Pittsburgh Steelers, then the Jacksonville Jaguars, followed by the Buffalo Bills. All division winners from last year.

Everyone outside of Boston identified the Patriots as a regression candidate this year. We had no idea how correct we were.