Seahawks’ top challenger on road to Super Bowl defense should be the Rams. But with more than 100 days until that test, Patriots arrive first

· Yahoo Sports

The Seattle Seahawks will remember where they were on Feb. 8, when they won the Super Bowl.

Visit moryak.biz for more information.

Many in the club will also remember where they were on June 1.

“It was a bad day,” general manager John Schneider told Yahoo Sports during a recent training camp practice. “It was a really bad day.”

Because on June 1, the Seahawks’ division-rival Los Angeles Rams traded for Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. The Rams, whom the Seahawks outlasted by four points in the NFC championship, now field both the reigning DPOY and the reigning MVP in quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season

The Rams acquired veteran cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson in the spring in a move many framed as set to stop Seahawks receiver and reigning receiving yards champion Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

And last week, in a move Smith-Njigba said “definitely went around the building,” the Rams welcomed back three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald.

So while the New England Patriots stand first on the Seahawks’ schedule for a Super Bowl rematch, the team far more pertinent to Seattle’s road back to the biggest stage has been loading up loudly and repeatedly.

The Seahawks-Rams rivalry that captivated fans last year should reach a whole new tenor this year.

And yet: The teams will not play the first of their two division games until Dec. 25 — 107 days after the Seahawks’ season opener.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba and the Seahawks got the best of the Rams twice last season, including in January's NFC championship game. Steph Chambers via Getty Images

So when asked about game-planning for Garrett and the newly loaded Rams, first-year Seahawks offensive coordinator Brian Fleury was ready.

“I’ve been waiting for somebody to ask me this question,” he told Yahoo Sports on Aug. 13. “And you may or may not like my answer.

“If you want to talk to somebody about Christmas in August, you should be talking to my wife. She’s Christmas shopping right now.”

Christmas will not come in September or October so instead, consider the Seahawks eager to test their 2026 identity against the Patriots on Wednesday.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald has preached a mindset of “run it forward” rather than “run it back” as Seattle chases a title defense. Smith-Njigba doesn’t worry about his team’s patience.

“It's very tough in this league to look ahead that far and to be antsy for one team when you have the Patriots, when you have the Broncos and the Chargers and the San Francisco 49ers,” he told Yahoo Sports last week. “This league is just very challenging and we preach the process. So it wouldn't be us to look too much forward into that game. …

“That's a game we are looking forward to, but you just have to control it and just get ready for Week 1. The Patriots, they bring on a big challenge.”

Even with a consecutive-game rematch, Macdonald cautions his team about relying too much on a scouting report from February to strategize a game in September.

“You don’t want to fall in the trap of applying last year’s things that you see too much to what’s going to happen this year,” Macdonald told reporters. “Teams grow and evolve and change, and there’s different personnel on both sides.”

The mantra of change is a favorite among Macdonald and Vrabel as each tries to streamline the emotions that could accompany the Seahawks’ banner-raising just before kickoff. But in reality: There’s not been wholesale change in either franchise. The Seahawks, in particular, will look very similar to their Super Bowl outfit when they take the field Wednesday.

Twenty of the Seahawks’ 22 Super Bowl starters remain on their roster this season, only running back Kenneth Walker III and defensive back Coby Bryant leaving in free agency to the Kansas City Chiefs and Chicago Bears, respectively.

The Patriots return most starters but have more change: Six Super Bowl starters have left to other teams, including four defenders. And that count does not include the departure of receivers Stefon Diggs (Washington Commanders) and Kayshon Boutte (Houston Texans), who did not start in the Super Bowl but played 63% and 73% of offensive snaps, respectively.

Free agency acquisitions shifted rosters as did each teams’ draft classes. But each team returns primarily starters from the emotion-laden big stage. Could that impact the NFL’s season opener, which has featured a Super Bowl rematch just one other time (2016) since 1970?

“You like to think it’s a new year,” Patriots quarterback Drake Maye told reporters. “You like to think that but at the same time, you [will] go against an opponent that you just lost a Super Bowl against. In the last game that I played and was out there, we lost to them in the biggest game. That’s why you play the game …

“So there’s definitely, I would not say ‘extra,’ [but] just a little bit of, ‘Man, this is our chance to start the season off strong on a good foot and knowing that the opportunity that we have, you get a little bit of a — you get your revenge game, but I would not say revenge game.

“They won the big one, and we got to start the season off. You cannot get that game back that we lost, so we are onto something new.”

The Seahawks appear to have fewer Super Bowl-related emotions invested in the outcome of the game, players and coaches emphasizing their desire to win to establish a foundation for this season but not their desire to win because of the implications of their opponent.

Macdonald said “it hasn’t really been a topic of conversation” given the “long time between the two games” of teams who are now “different versions of who we are.”

The Seahawks, at home and bearing rings, are 3.5-point betting favorites.

“We’re the champs, so it’s like, why would we put emphasis on that?” defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence told Yahoo Sports. “They can do what they want to do. But we the champs and they still have to come to our house and see how we get down.”

How, exactly, will the Seahawks get down?

While Seattle may not be emphasizing the emotional element of the Week 1 rematch, the strategic elements of the game’s timing is relevant.

Coaches and players across the league refer to early-season contests as a game of "unscouted looks.” With roster shifts and months of schematic tweaking, the number of plays and personnel groupings that opponents won’t expect tends to peak during the opening week of the NFL season.

Macdonald’s response: a training camp heavy on situational work. 

Two-minute and four-minute drills canvassed Seattle’s practices, the defensive-minded Macdonald creating so many unideal situations for Fleury as he adapted to calling plays that Fleury joked he wondered who kept burning through all of his timeouts. Coaches would receive a batch of situations late the night before practice or the morning of, Fleury said. Four-minute work would bleed immediately into two-minute work without time to regroup.

“It’s irritating in the moment, but it’s necessary at the same time,” Fleury said. “Every single day is a different scenario.”

Aug 15, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks running back Jadarian Price (8) during warmups before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS

That situational focus from Macdonald has helped the Seahawks in recent years, players and coaches said. Defensive coordinator Aden Durde remembered a game in which they practiced and discussed a situation that went on to unfold just so in the week’s game. Durde declined to give specifics on the situation.

“But it actually happened and we won the game,” Durde told Yahoo Sports. “It was an NFC West game. I don’t think it’s my place to say [which].”

For now, the biggest post-February change the Seahawks' defense must prepare for is the Patriots’ trade for receiver A.J. Brown, giving Maye perhaps his surest target yet alongside free-agent signing Romeo Doubs. Seattle’s offense would be wise to heed the Patriots’ acquisition of cornerback Kevin Byard, whose seven interceptions last season led the NFL.

And while Seattle’s defensive innovation must stem more from Macdonald’s schematic evolution than from personnel changes, Seattle’s run game could look significantly different. Walker left in free agency for the Kansas City Chiefs after earning Super Bowl MVP honors for his 135 rushing yards and 161 total scrimmage yards to pace the 29-13 win.

Seahawks veteran running back Zach Charbonnet remains on the physically unable to perform list to start the NFL season after tearing his ACL in Seattle’s NFC divisional-round game.

The Seahawks drafted running back Jadarian Price with the final pick of the first round in April.

During training camp, coaches and teammates touted Price’s speed getting to the perimeter and patience in moving as well as his shifting between speeds to catch defenders in off angles. Price stood out to them in the passing game with his feel for space and explosiveness as well as his vision running behind linebackers.

None of that ensures he’ll be ready to carry a Walker-like load in Week 1.

“He’s doing as well as any rookie I've ever been with, but he's still a rookie,” Fleury said. “And so there's no substitute for learning through experience. He’s immensely, very sharp. He's learning what he's supposed to do, but not necessarily how he's supposed to do it and what some of the real-time reactions to the other side of the ball are. 

“That's just going to happen with time and reps and experience in games at full speed.”

Health permitting, Price should have ample opportunity to gain reps and experience before the Seahawks at least see the Rams on Dec. 25 — and again, for their regular-season finale, on Jan. 10.

By then, the Rams’ ceiling with Garrett, Donald and their new cornerbacks will be clearer. That bad day from June when Garrett was traded from the AFC North to the NFC West will be further removed. How much Donald has left in the tank will be more evident, too.

“It [was] a competitive division without him,” Smith-Njigba said of Donald. “He's someone that you have to account for and we're going to do our best to maintain and to try to stop him. But we're accepting the challenge. We're going to accept the challenge each week, go in with a great game plan and execute. And I truly believe that. 

“Whatever may come our way, we'll be ready for it.”

Read full story at source