New England Patriots
“I think you always have a chip on your shoulder when you’re going up against someone that you lost to the year before”
New England Patriots captains line up before the coin toss and taking on the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XI, Feb. 8, 2026. AP Photo/Doug Benc
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The Patriots will open the 2026 season with a Wednesday night showdown on the West Coast.
Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III has since moved on, signing with Kansas City in the offseason, but there is still excitement for the matchup.
“I was excited, man,” safety Craig Woodson said. “Obviously I’m excited for every game on the schedule, but Week 1, that’s going to be a good one. What happened last year is what happened last year but it’s time to take advantage of the opportunity that we have.”
Seattle beat the Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX last February. Cornerback Marcus Jones said the team is determined to bring about a different outcome this time.
“We put in a lot of work, and you get all the way to where you wanted to be and we didn’t get the job done,” Jones said. “We all understand it, but we know our potential and we know how far that we can go. We’ve got a lot of guys back on the team that has been in those situations, so we understand that we don’t want that to happen again and it’s a long path to Week One.”
Special teams ace Brenden Schooler called the rematch a great opportunity to show the work they’ve been doing this offseason.
“I think you always have a chip on your shoulder when you’re going up against someone that you lost to the year before,” Schooler said. “I’m treating it like another game, I’m going to go out there and be composed like I was in the Super Bowl when we played them. Nothing has really changed except the date we’re playing each other and the location we’re playing each other.”
There’s a little less than four months to go between now and the Sept. 3 clash. OTAs start next week, training camp is coming up, and there’s a whole preseason left for them to prepare.
“I feel like at the end of the day, it’s a new year,” Jones said. “I’m happy about the situation of hearing the schedule off the fact that we’re getting closer to what we love to be a part of, but at the end of the day we’re not looking too far forward.
“It’s a Super Bowl rematch at the end of the day but we’ve got to control what we can control and there’s a lot to get installed and to build during the preseason and everything, but we’re excited for Week One.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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