The Seattle Seahawks will look to keep their winning ways going on this young season in Week 2. However, they will have to earn their win against a defensively stout New England Patriots team in Foxboro.
New England was one of the worst teams in football last season, and it resulted in the team finally moving on from the legendary Bill Belichick. In his place is a former player of Belichicks, linebacker Jerod Mayo, who is enjoying his first job as a head coach. That’s right, Week 2 is a showdown between two young, defensive minded, rookie head coaches. Gone are the aforementioned Belichick and Pete Carroll. A new era is on the horizon for the teams playing in the bookend cities of I-90.
Like the Seahawks in many recent seasons, the media has seemingly written off New England. The Patriots may not be playoff caliber this year, but that’s not to suggest they will be a bad team. The idea this New England squad won’t be competitive is rather foolish in my opinion. They are anchored by a solid defense that will surely ruin plenty of offenses’ days (see: Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1) and led by a veteran quarterback in Jacoby Brissett. The journeyman backup probably won’t be earning any Pro Bowl nods this year, but Brissett is more than capable of leading an offense effectively to victory. New England is going to win games by dragging teams down into the mud with them.
All this to say the Seahawks are going to find themselves in a dogfight this weekend. The Patriots defensive line is sure to give Seattle’s weakened offensive line fits. Sunday will also mark the celebration of the 10-year anniversary of New England’s triumph over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, so you can be sure the Pats’ ring-wearing head coach who was a player on that championship team will have his squad sufficiently fired up in front of the home crowd.
But for as dominant as the New England defense was last week, the Seahawks’ defense was similarly suffocating. When the Broncos weren’t literally gifted the ball in Seattle’s red zone or freely given points by safeties, they only scored 10 points… which is the total the Patriots held the Bengals to on the road. The Broncos may have a watergun offense, but it’s not like New England has a high-octane unit either.
As for the Seahawks offense against the Patriots defense, they matchup better than expected. Yes, Cincinnati has the edge at quarterback. Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase are among the best in the entire league at their positions. But Seattle is deeper across all skill positions than the Bengals are. Additionally, Cincinnati always starts slow, and they had an offseason rife with contract negotiation drama, injuries and even illness. The Seahawks are going to be a more buttoned up opponent for the Patriots.
The key to this game is if Seattle can get their ground game going. The absence of Kenneth Walker is a blow, and it remains to be seen if they can overcome his loss. Zach Charbonnet, Kenny McIntosh and perhaps George Holani are going to have to shoulder the load. If the Seahawks can still run the ball effectively, sustain drives and keep the points flowing, then they should be able to escape Foxboro with a win. If not, and Geno Smith is facing multiple 3rd-and-longs, then it could be another rough outing like we saw in the first half last week.
Prediction: Seahawks over Patriots 17-13
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