On paper, the Seattle Seahawks are a familiar opponent for the New England Patriots. They are, after all, the most recent team they game-planned against. Of course, that process is seven months away and the two teams — especially the Patriots — have changed a lot since the Super Bowl.
So, order to find out more about the Patriots’ Week 1 opponent, we spoke with John Gilbert of Pats Pulpit’s sister site Field Gulls, the SB Nation community for all things Seahawks.
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Do you expect Mike Macdonald to copy and paste his Super Bowl game plan? Or could we see some tweaks on Wednesday?
Macdonald is the type to always look for every little way to improve or do things better, so the overarching idea of what the Seahawks want to do will likely be the same, but there will undoubtedly be tweaks to the specific implementations.
On defense, things are likely to be somewhat more vanilla than in the Super Bowl simply to prevent communications mishaps that could allow for a big play that alters the outcome.
Over on the flip side, everyone is waiting to see how Brian Fleury calls a game, because there weren’t a lot of fans who were excited by the team putting just 32 points on the board over the course of the entire preseason. Of course, most of the starters didn’t play at all, and there’s not a lot to take from preseason results, even more so when it is second and third stringers on the field, so even Seattle fans are anxious to see what the Hawks will do differently on offense in Week 1 as opposed to what they did in the Super Bowl.
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Do you expect any significant offensive changes under new OC Brian Fleury?
I expect the offense to be similar, but of course anytime there is a change at offensive coordinator there will be slight differences. Fleury will have full time play calling duties for the first time in his coaching career, so it wouldn’t be a surprise for there to be bumps along the way as he gains experience.
The biggest difference for the offense might be in the ground game, as Klint Kubiak tweaked his historically wide-zone heavy tendencies when Kenneth Walker was on the field and called more gap runs for Walker than any other running back in his three seasons as an offensive coordinator between Minnesota, New Orleans and Seattle.
With that in mind, Kubiak guided the Seahawks to an average of 28.4 points per game, and while the group certainly benefited from the performance of the defense, the offense performed at a high level and executed what was asked of them. It will be a tall task for Fleury to come in and immediately exceed or even match the results Kubiak was able to deliver in 2025, so a step back, even if small, would not come as a surprise.
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Do you see significant drop-off from last season at CB, RB, SAF, and ED3 with the losses of Riq Woolen, Kenneth Walker III, Coby Bryant, and Boye Mafe?
The area where there is likely the potential for the biggest drop off after the free agent losses of the offseason is in the secondary, where the combination of the loss of Woolen and Bryant could lead to breakdowns that hurt.
Specifically, players in their second season in Macdonald’s system have performed at a much higher level than in their first season in the system and replacing thirty percent of the snaps played in the secondary last season won’t be easy. Thus, it won’t be a surprise if there are some early-season communications breakdowns as the 2026 group learns to play together as a group. .
On the other side of the ball, Walker’s departure to the Kansas City Chiefs brings the discussion
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How do you expect the CB rotation to look on game day? Especially if Nick Emmanwori isn’t healthy enough to man the slot in nickel?
The Seahawks base is five defensive backs, with the situation dictating whether they have three cornerbacks or three safeties on the field, but this is something even Seattle fans will be watching closely.
In addition to the departures of Woolen and Bryant in free agency, injuries hit the secondary hard during the preseason. Ty Okada started eleven games in 2025, stepping into the lineup at times for all three of Emmanwori, Bryant and Julian Love, but Okada has been ruled out due to a hamstring injury, which could make things interesting. On top of that, second round pick Bud Clark is on injured reserve and out for the year, while rookie third round cornerback Julian Neal missed much of training camp due to injury and likely hasn’t practiced enough to be a significant part of the rotation just yet.
With all that in mind, it won’t be a surprise if the team dips into the secondary depth on the practice squad ahead of the opener Wednesday. Veteran D’Anthony Bell is primarily known for his special teams play, but he started a pair of games for the Seahawks in 2025, and 2021 All-Pro Trevon Diggs is looking to re-establish himself after several injury-plagued seasons the past few years.
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Has Sam Darnold taken another step in Seattle’s offense? Would you be comfortable if things came down to a shootout?
Darnold has continued to improve in each recent season, but there will likely always be those who will doubters as long as he drops a stinker of a game like he did against the Los Angeles Rams in the 2024 postseason or the first matchup against the Rams in 2025.
Fleury will mark the seventh different offensive coordinator Darnold has played under in the past seven seasons, and it bears watching whether Fleury can find as much success with Darnold under center as Klint Kubiak and Kevin O’Connell have the past couple of years.
