The Seahawks vs. Patriots game started off sloppy for Seattle, and honestly, it looked like things could get ugly pretty quick.
Seattle dealt with penalties early that put them behind the sticks and killed some promising drives. Then, just when the Seahawks were trying to settle into the game, starting quarterback Sam Darnold went down with a hip injury on Seattle's opening drive. Darnold was sacked by former Seahawk Dre'Mont Jones and was eventually ruled out, finishing just 1-of-2 for 13 yards. (very short from my pre-game/ weekly 210+ yard prediction).
Not exactly the start Seattle wanted for the defense of their Super Bowl title.
The Patriots were the first team to find the end zone, with Drake Maye connecting with tight end Eli Raridon for a 2-yard touchdown in the second quarter. New England took a 7-0 lead into halftime, while Seattle's offense struggled to get anything going.
Drew Lock was forced into action for most of the night, and while he wasn't putting up huge numbers, he eventually gave Seattle exactly what they needed. Lock finished 11-of-14 for 98 yards, and most importantly, he didn't turn the ball over.
New England came out of halftime and extended its lead with a 50-yard field goal from Andy Borregales, making it 10-0. Seattle finally answered with a Jason Myers field goal to cut the deficit to 10-3.
For most of the third quarter, though, the game was pretty flat. Neither offense could really create much momentum, and it felt like the Patriots were slowly trying to bleed the clock and protect their lead.
Then everything changed in the fourth.
With Seattle desperately needing a spark, Drew Lock delivered one of the biggest plays of the game. Lock dropped a beautiful pass over the defense and found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a 45-yard touchdown, tying the game at 10-10. JSN ended up having a monster night, finishing with 8 catches for 122 yards, accounting for a huge portion of Seattle's passing offense. Jadarian Price was not absent today at all, finishing 10 carries for - 52yds averaging 5.2 yards a carry. His longest was his first play of the game of 13 yards. Like I predicted he would have a standout game and actually gave his team a chance in most spots to perform.
Seattle wasn't done.
Jason Myers came through again, hitting a 26-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to give the Seahawks their first lead of the night, 13-10.
That left New England with one final chance.
With under six minutes left, the Patriots slowly worked their way down the field, converting multiple fourth downs and eventually getting into scoring territory. It looked like New England was setting itself up for either the game-tying field goal or a potential game-winning touchdown.
Then Drake Maye made the mistake Seattle had been waiting for.
Maye threw three interceptions in the fourth quarter, and the final one came with less than 30 seconds remaining. Seahawks defensive back Josh Jobe came down with the game-sealing interception, completely flipping the momentum of the game.
Seattle's offense took over from there, and Drew Lock took the Seahawks into victory formation to officially close out the 13-10 comeback victory.
The Seahawks didn't play a perfect game. The offense struggled for long stretches, Darnold went down almost immediately, and the penalties made things harder than they needed to be. But Seattle's defense kept them in the game long enough for Lock and JSN to make the plays when it mattered.
The biggest takeaway might be that Seattle found a way to win despite everything going wrong early.
Darnold's injury will obviously be the biggest question coming out of this game, but for tonight, the Seahawks are 1-0.
And after being down 10-0, that's all that really matters.