Obviously, everyone knows by now that if Drake Maye had just taken care of and checked down the football, we'd be talking about a 1-0 Patriots team off a hard-fought victory over the defending Super Bowl champions at Lumen Field.
We'll never know how things would have played out if Drew Lock hadn't had to replace Sam Darnold, but the result was largely the same as the Super Bowl: the defense played well enough to win; the offense did not.
I don't have a lot of notes on how the defense performed. The run defense was a little leaky, but I do think part of that was a good Seahawks interior line (their tackles were very suspect) like in the Super Bowl, and tight end A.J. Barner and fullback Brady Russell WAY outperformed their Patriots counterparts (Eli Raridon, Reggie Gilliam) as far as blocking goes. If you swapped those two positions, the Patriots might have survived Maye's meltdown and won the game. The Seahawks, at least after one game, are the far more physical football team. We'll see if the Patriots can improve in that area as the season goes along. The way they constructed the roster, they're counting on it.
But these were the headlines, positive and negative, from the defense before we get into film analysis, positional ratings, and three up/down:
• I thought the Patriots, both offensively and defensively, were out of gas in the fourth quarter and that contributed to the defeat. I think that's why you saw the penalty issues arise in the second half, especially on offense. I'm more concerned that the defense, which played 19 fewer snaps than the offense, seemed to wear down faster. That was part of the issues on the Jaxon Smith-Njigba touchdown, as you would take issue with the pursuit effort of a few players, including Carlton Davis and Robert Spillane. The Patriots practiced in pads a lot, but I think they could have sprinkled in a few (any?) hill runs. Remember the Jerod Mayo season-opening win at Cincinnati and the "take 'em to the hill" cry? Yeah, we're long past those days (given what happened the rest of that season, maybe it's wise for Mike Vrabel to not overemphasize conditioning in Week 1 of 18). There were some plays deep in the second half where it looked like some players had rubbery legs and lacked burst.
• I thought the secondary, for the vast majority of the game, was outstanding, and they were able to sort out all the Seahawks tried to do with bunches and motion with great effectiveness. Christian Gonzalez, in particular, showed a level of communication and leadership I haven't seen from him before. If the Patriots keep covering like that in the back end, they'll be just fine, and so will the pass rush because QBs will have to hold the ball a little longer.
• Most of my issues with coverage came from the underneath coverage, namely Spillane and Dell Pettus. Their drops and depths were poorly aligned and will continue to be exploited if it's not fixed. That is something that can be easily fixed with film and practice work (Spillane was way too deep in the quarters coverage on the 13-yard checkdown to Russell to start the second half). That being said, I thought Spillane looked slower in coverage than last year. He was fine going forward.
• I only quibbled with a few of Zak Kuhr's playcalls. I thought calling a corner blitz on first down with 14:12 left was unneeded and led to an easy 13-yard catch by JSN. I don't have a huge problem with the playcall on the touchdown — Woodson needs to play almost like man on JSN; he got too deep to make that tackle, and the team pursuit was dogcrap — because it should not have gone to the house. I just think sometimes Kuhr, Vrabel and John Streicher — Bill Belichick was similar — get so obsessed with keeping teams out of field-goal range (Patriots led 10-3 as Seattle faced 4th and 1 at the NE 45 with 11:38 left) that they miss the bigger picture. You just don't want to give up a big play. Big deal if you play a little more conservatively and they convert. Make them need 10 plays to score those 45 yards, not one. But Kuhr will live and die by the blitz and aggressiveness. Might need to pull back on that this season against a more difficult schedule. The opponents studied the Patriots all offseason, they're going to be more ready to burn them this season.
Here are the positional ratings against the Seahawks:
DEFENSE
Defensive line (3 out of 5)
I thought the edges, especially Dre'Mont Jones and Elijah Ponder, had very strong games against the run and the pass, and they won their matchup decidely against the Seahawks' tackles. Ponder really stood out with his play strength and leverage. ... I did not give Gabe Jacas a "sack" for his sack. That was one of the few plays Drew Lock would like to have back, as he had JSN open on a dig, and options underneath. It wasn't a coverage sack, and it wasn't Jacas winning the play, although it was a good effort on the rush. If that was Maye, I would put the sack on him. And Jacas' tackle for a loss was actually just a complete mental error from LT Charles Cross. Jacas' best play was when the Seahawks came out with an unbalanced line to hit the Patriots quickly, and he helped string the play out. ... The interior wasn't bad — Milton Williams was at times against the run — but it was unimpactful. Williams had two hits and a stuff, not bad. Christian Barmore gets paid way too much money to put up one-half hurry.
Linebackers (2.5 out of 5)
Basically, they were "Even Steven" because, as good as Elliss was against the run, Spillane (did get a half sack on Jones' takedown for making Darnold pull the ball down) was just as poor against the pass and got run around twice to miss tackles where he looked pretty slow. Lock ran around Spillane to the 2-yard line like the linebacker was standing still. That was worrisome.
Secondary (4 out of 5)
Take out Pettus (and you could make the argument he was the third linebacker), and this group was really good, led by the outstanding corners. The coverage from Gonzalez and Davis was especially sticky. ... I am a little worried about the safeties. Woodson did not pick up where he left off last year, and Kevin Byard did look a little slow. I'm not going to overreact yet. Safety and coverage linebacker (Spillane) may be those positions where players need time to get ready for real game speed.
THREE UP
CB Christian Gonzalez: Between the end of last season and this game, Gonzalez looks like he's about to go to another, elite level. And he carried himself like a captain on the field with his communication.
DE Dre'Mont Jones: Had 3.5 of the team's 11 QB pressures, and he set a very good edge.
LB Christian Elliss: Jacas and Ponder were also considered, but I think Elliss was more impactful on a down-to-down basis, especially against the run.
THREE DOWN
S Dell Pettus: He looked lost out there and way overaggressive. It may be time to see The Jaylen Reed Trade on the field.
LB Robert Spillane: I'm holding to my rule of not overreacting to Week 1, but the two players who worried me the most were Alijah Vera-Tucker and Spillane (Maye will be fine, he was garbage Week 1 vs. Raiders last year). The legs aren't there yet. Long season.
DT Christian Barmore: In the biggest games, the opponent needs to feel Barmore's impact. They didn't enough in this one.