New England earned a surprising season-opening win over Cincinnati and faces Seattle and new coach Mike Macdonald in Week 2.
The New England Patriots were so bad last year they parted ways with six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick. The Seattle Seahawks weren’t much better, reason enough to get rid of Pete Carroll – the only coach ever to lead them to the NFL title.
And on Sunday night, one of those teams will be 2-0.
“You see the direction that we’re trying to go, you see what happens when you do follow the process, and you do buy into the plan,” Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett said this week. “Some days … you’re not going to get the results you want. But I think it’s even more apparent after you do get those results.”
The Seahawks and Patriots have both fallen far since their matchup in Super Bowl 49, when Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson at the goal line and Tom Brady knelt out the final seconds to seal yet another championship for New England.
Wilson is on his third team, in Pittsburgh after two unsuccessful seasons in Denver. Butler has retired, and he will be back on Sunday along with 20 teammates to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 2014 title.