SEATTLE — The NFL’s 2026 season kicked off with a heavyweight bout that felt ripped from a Hollywood script. On a crisp September 10 night at Lumen Field, the Seattle Seahawks — battered, bruised, and written off by many — summoned a late surge to edge the New England Patriots 13-10 in a Super Bowl 60 rematch. The victory, sealed by a goal-line interception as time expired, extended Seattle’s winning streak to 11 games and served notice that the reigning champions aren’t ready to abdicate their throne.
Linebacker and team captain Ernest Jones IV, his left eye swollen shut and blood seeping through a bandage, summed up the night with the weary wisdom of a prizefighter. “It’s a 12-round fight, man, that’s all it is,” Jones said in the locker room, per insights gathered by Vulius Sports. “Just a normal day at the office.” But normal it was not. The Seahawks lost starting quarterback Sam Darnold to a hip injury on the opening drive, thrusting backup Drew Lock into the fray. Star safety Nick Emmanwori, still recovering from July ankle surgery, watched from the sideline. An offense led by rookie coordinator Brian Fleury sputtered for more than a half before finding its footing.
“We talk about the ’26 Seahawks and understanding our identity and who we are — that definitely revealed the type of team we have. We have a resilient, tough bunch that sticks together.” — Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald
Yet adversity only seemed to steel Seattle’s resolve. Lock, a journeyman backup who has long been beloved in the locker room, engineered a 13-point fourth-quarter comeback, capped by Josh Jobe’s game-sealing interception of Patriots quarterback Drake Maye in the end zone. Jobe and fellow unsung corner Nehemiah Pritchett — two names that barely registered on the national radar — each picked off Maye, the runner-up for 2025 NFL MVP. Rookie running back Jadarian Price, tasked with replacing Super Bowl 60 MVP Kenneth Walker III, flashed explosive potential with 12 carries and likely earned a larger role moving forward.
The Rams: The NFL’s New Superteam
While Seattle celebrated, the shadow of the Los Angeles Rams loomed large. On Thursday night in Australia, the Rams — a team many consider the NFL’s version of Ivan Drago — open their season against the formidable San Francisco 49ers. Los Angeles spent the offseason assembling a roster that borders on unfair: the blockbuster trade for two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, the return of three-time DPOY Aaron Donald, and the acquisitions of former Kansas City Chiefs cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. Add those four to an already star-studded core featuring quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Puka Nacua, and the Rams look every bit the prohibitive favorite.
“They’re easily motivated, because there’s a lot of noise out there about how great the L.A. Rams are, and that’s low-hanging fruit for Coach Macdonald as he motivates and gets this group rightly focused to answer,” longtime Pittsburgh Steelers coach and new NBC analyst Mike Tomlin said before Wednesday’s kickoff. “And that is real.”
But as the Seahawks proved, intangibles matter. Darnold may never match Stafford’s MVP pedigree, but he is revered in Seattle’s close-knit locker room. Lock’s heroics only reinforced that trust. Macdonald has cultivated a culture of “chasing edges,” relentlessly hunting small advantages that yield massive results. And while Seattle lacks the star power of Stafford, Garrett, Donald, McDuffie, and Nacua, it counters with depth and hunger — players like Jobe, Pritchett, and Price who embody the next-man-up ethos.
What’s Next for Seattle and Los Angeles
The Seahawks now enjoy an 11-day respite before hosting the lowly Arizona Cardinals, while the Rams endure a grueling 30-hour round-trip to Australia for a stern test against the Niners. Seattle won’t face Los Angeles until Christmas, but the anticipation is already building. “It was the perfect type of game that you’d want for Week 1. Lot of adversity. Wasn’t very clean. But we stuck together,” safety Julian Love said. “That’s probably the number one thing that we have — we’re just going to find a way. It might be scoring a bunch of points, it might be shutting out a team, special teams making plays, whatever. We’ll find a way.”
As the NFL season unfolds, the question lingers: Can Seattle’s heart overcome Los Angeles’s overwhelming talent? For now, the Seahawks have passed their first exam. But as Jones put it, “It’s a 12-round fight.” And the Rams are waiting in the ring.
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