One game doesn’t define a season, but Patriots loss to Seattle revealed plenty | Karen Guregian

SEATTLE - Opening games don't make or break a season. They aren't necessarily the best barometer of how a season ultimately goes.

Last year, the Patriots lost the season opener and didn't look particularly good. A few games later, they ripped off 10 straight wins, and wound up in the Super Bowl.

The year before that, the Jerod Mayo-coached team upset Cincinnati on the road, looked like they might be a player in the AFC, and only won three more games the rest of the way.

What to make of Wednesday night's 13-10 season opening loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl 60 rematch?

Let's just say it was informational on many fronts. It revealed plenty.

Drake Maye shouldn't be anointed the savior just yet. After an MVP worthy campaign in 2025, there were heightened expectations for the Patriots quarterback in 2026, even after a disappointing postseason.

Being in the second-year of Josh McDaniels' offense, having more command at the line to audible out of bad plays, being armed with better receivers with A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs , and a revamped offensive line, Maye figured to be even more deadly.

It just didn't happen Wednesday night in Seattle. After taking a 10-0 lead, Maye completely unraveled. Perhaps trying to do too much, trying to make things happen after losing Brown to an ankle injury, Maye made mistake after mistake.

He threw three picks on three fourth quarter possessions, the last coming after driving the Patriots down to the 16 yard line with 26 seconds to go and the potential game-winning score within his grasp, or, at worst, a game-tying field goal.

He lofted up a horrible pass in the right corner of the end zone intended for Mack Hollins . Instead, Josh Jobe picked it off and that was the ball game.

All three picks were on Maye, who was far from his MVP form in the second half, and far from being a finished product.

"I mean, you can't throw three interceptions," Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said immediately following the loss. "Drake knows that."

Maye tried to make sense of his poor play, but it still didn't sit well. He took accountability at the podium, and then sat at his locker for quite a while with his head down. Tommy DeVito did his best to lend support, but that didn't seem to work.

"(I) lost patience and it cost us, decisions that cost us the game on my part, on my end," Maye said. "I vow to myself to be better and realize it's a long season but at the same time we can't have those. We can't have those.

"It's unacceptable and I know we got to get back to work. That wasn't how I play football and how I want to represent my game and playing quarterback for the Patriots."

If anyone thought trading Kayshon Boutte wasn't a mistake, think again.

When A.J. Brown went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter, one that kept him out of the rest of the game, and may very well keep him out awhile, having an insurance policy like Boutte probably would have been a godsend.

While Mack Hollins (4 catches, 51 yards) helped pick up some of the slack on the outside, Kyle Williams (0 catches, 0 targets) did zip. Ditto Romeo Doubs (0 catches, 3 targets), who had a critical fourth-quarter drop.

Doubs had looked so good the final weeks of camp, and during joint practices only to wilt in the game.

There's no guarantee Boutte would have been better, but it's hard to believe he wouldn't have been given his chemistry with Maye.

Instead, the Patriots opted to trade him to Houston for a backup safety ( Jaylen Reed ), and a 2028 seventh-round draft pick.

The offensive line, while improved, still wasn't good enough.

The Patriots couldn't run the ball at all in the first half. Rhamondre Stevenson averaged 2.8 yards per carry. Maye proved their best runner with 47 yards on seven carries. That doesn't bode well.

Alijah Vera-Tucker, a bit of a gamble given his injury history, is an All-Pro guard when he plays.

He didn't look like an All-Pro guard Wednesday night.

Will Campbell , after a forgettable Super Bowl, was better. But he had several costly penalties.

Holding the Seahawks to 13 points was terrific.

Newcomer Dre'Mont Jones played well on the edge, rookie Gabe Jacas made several plays that were encouraging, and Christian Gonzalez , who is now the proud owner of the NFL's top cornerback contract, had two pass breakups when he marked Jaxon Smith-Njigba .

The problem was he wasn't asked to mark him enough.

Ultimately, they still lost to a backup quarterback. Drew Lock took over after Sam Darnold (hip) was lost in the first series of the game.

He beat the Patriots by hitting Smith-Njigba with a 45-yard touchdown pass - safety Craig Woodson had a chance to bring him down, but whiffed on the tackle - and later got them in range for the game-winning field goal.

The defending Super Bowl champions made plays with the game on the line. The Patriots didn't.

Their top players rose to the occasion. The Patriots top guns, highlighted by Maye, didn't.

"Yeah, we didn't win the football game in the 4th (quarter), you know what I mean, the 2nd half. And that's really when you have to win these games in this league," Vrabel said. "It's finding a way to make some plays in the second half in critical situations. We didn't do that.

"We can't turn the ball over, and we have to create more turnovers. Again, it's a broken record. But we gotta have a chance. We gotta be great in that situation."

Again, that doesn't mean they won't be before season's end. But for a team coming off a Super Bowl appearance, a team that made moves geared toward closing the gap with the Seahawks, it was disappointing.

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