How to Watch New England Patriots vs Seattle Seahawks: NFL Week 1 2026

Watch Info

• Date: Wednesday, September 9, 2026
• Time: 8:20 PM ET
• TV Channel: NBC
• Streaming: Peacock, NFL+, fuboTV, YouTube TV
• Location: Lumen Field, Seattle, WA

Game Preview

The 2026 NFL season kicks off with a rematch nobody saw coming quite this soon: the Seattle Seahawks hosting the New England Patriots in the very game that decided Super Bowl LX just seven months earlier. Seattle dominated that meeting 29-13 in Santa Clara to capture its second Lombardi Trophy, and now gets to raise the championship banner at Lumen Field with the Patriots standing on the opposite sideline.

This marks just the third time in NFL history that the reigning Super Bowl champion has opened the following season against the team it beat, and the first time since 2016, when Denver hosted Carolina in a rematch of Super Bowl 50. History favors the champion in these spots: since 2004, defending champs playing in the season opener are 16-5. The game also holds a scheduling quirk — it's being played on a Wednesday, one day earlier than the usual Thursday kickoff, to make room for the NFL's first-ever regular-season game in Australia (Rams vs. 49ers) the following night.

New England Patriots News & Storylines

Quarterback Drake Maye, a 2025 NFL MVP finalist, says he's using the Super Bowl loss as motivation heading into the rematch. "Starting off with the bang like that, a chance to get an opponent that left a bad taste in our mouth," Maye told reporters over the summer, calling it extra fuel for training camp. New England was aggressive this offseason, signing wide receiver Romeo Doubs, edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones, safety Kevin Byard, and offensive lineman Alijah Vera-Tucker, while also being linked to a potential trade for Eagles star A.J. Brown.

Head coach Mike Vrabel will be looking to bounce back after New England's championship hopes were dashed in February. Facing the Seahawks again so quickly — and on the road, with Seattle's crowd fully charged for a banner-raising ceremony — will be one of the toughest possible environments to open a season.

Seattle Seahawks News & Storylines

The defending champions will unveil their second Super Bowl banner before kickoff, but they'll do so having lost several key contributors from that title run. Super Bowl MVP running back Kenneth Walker III departed in free agency for Kansas City, and Seattle also lost offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak along with defensive playmakers Coby Bryant, Boye Mafe, and Riq Woolen. Quarterback Sam Darnold returns after leading the Seahawks' title run, and Seattle's defense — nicknamed the "Dark Side" for its dominant Super Bowl performance — will look to prove it can reload despite the offseason departures.

Seattle enters the year as one of the league's most-featured teams on national television, with six primetime games on the 2026 schedule, including a Christmas Day matchup against the Rams.

Key Matchup to Watch

Drake Maye and New England's retooled offensive line against a Seattle pass rush and secondary that dismantled the Patriots in the Super Bowl. New England added protection (Alijah Vera-Tucker) and pass-rush help (Dre'Mont Jones) specifically to avoid a repeat of that performance, even as Seattle's front seven now has some new faces of its own after offseason departures.

What to Expect

Emotions and crowd energy will be at a season-opening peak in Seattle, with Lumen Field raising a championship banner in front of the very team it just beat. Expect a hard-fought, physical opener as New England looks to prove the Super Bowl result was an aberration, while Seattle tries to show its title defense starts exactly where the last season ended.