Patriots' Fourth-Quarter Collapse Hands Seahawks Season-Opening Victory

The New England Patriots walked into Wednesday night's season opener with a chance to rewrite a painful chapter. Seven months had passed since Seattle dismantled them in Super Bowl LX. Now, facing the same Seahawks team but without their starting quarterback, the Patriots had the kind of opportunity that doesn't come often in professional football. They found a way to lose it anyway.

Sam Darnold lasted five plays. On Seattle's opening drive, Patriots lineman Dre'Mont Jones brought him down hard, and Darnold limped off with a hip injury that would keep him out for the rest of the night. Drew Lock took over for the Seahawks, a backup thrust into a season opener against a team hungry for revenge. For most of the game, it looked like that mismatch would define the evening. Seattle managed no points in the first half and just a field goal through three quarters. The Patriots, playing conservatively, built a 10-3 lead. They had almost everything they needed to win.

The first half was forgettable for both teams. Lock threw for 64 yards in the opening two quarters, with 13 of those coming on Darnold's lone drive before the injury. The Patriots' offense wasn't much sharper. Their one significant play came on a flea flicker that Drake Maye underthrew, but A.J. Brown recovered it and drew a pass interference penalty at the two-yard line. Rookie tight end Eli Raridon scored on the next play. After that, the Patriots settled into a rhythm of field goals and conservative play calling. It was the kind of game that tested patience, but the Patriots were winning it.

Then the fourth quarter arrived, and everything unraveled. Nehemiah Pritchett intercepted a deep pass intended for Romeo Doubs, giving Seattle the ball in Patriots territory. The Seahawks drove downfield, and on fourth down, Jaxon Smith-Njigba caught a short pass underneath and simply outran the New England defense for 45 yards and a touchdown. The game was tied. Smith-Njigba, the NFL's Offensive Player of the Year, had shown exactly why he earned that honor.

Maye, who had nearly won MVP the previous season, began making decisions he rarely made. On the next drive, he threw into the middle of the field where Julian Love was waiting for an easy interception. The Seahawks added a field goal to take a 13-10 lead with less than six minutes remaining. The Patriots still had time. Maye converted a fourth-down run, then found Mack Hollins for a first down on fourth-and-9. Rhamondre Stevenson moved them into field-goal range. Maye ran for a first down on third-and-1 with under a minute left. The Patriots were in position to tie the game.

Instead, Maye forced a pass into the end zone. Josh Jobe picked it off in the final minute. It was the third interception of the quarter for Maye, and the most damaging one. The Patriots had been in range to at least send the game to overtime. They had been the better team for most of the night. They had been playing against a backup quarterback and a team missing its star player. And they had still found a way to lose.

The Seahawks deserved credit for staying composed and executing when it mattered. Their defense had confused the Patriots with multiple looks, just as they had in the Super Bowl. But this loss would linger differently for New England. They had seven months to think about the Super Bowl. They had a chance to avenge it against a wounded opponent. And they squandered it in the fourth quarter. To make matters worse, A.J. Brown left the game with an ankle injury in the second half, leaving the Patriots uncertain about their receiving corps heading into week two. For Maye, it was a rough night against a team that had his number. For the Patriots, it was a loss that felt worse than the score suggested.