Seven months ago, the New England Patriots watched Seattle hoist the Lombardi Trophy 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. On Wednesday night, the two teams meet again — this time to open a brand new season, on the same field where the Seahawks will unfurl their championship banner just hours before kickoff.
A Rematch the League Didn't Have to Wait For
It's the first time since 2016 that the NFL has opened its season with a rematch of the previous Super Bowl, and the league built the schedule around it: Patriots at Seahawks, Lumen Field, Wednesday, September 9, kickoff at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC after Football Night in America at 7.
The Wednesday slot is itself a small piece of history — the NFL's first Wednesday season opener since 2012, breaking from the usual Thursday-night kickoff tradition to make room for the banner ceremony and the rematch storyline in the same broadcast window.
How Both Teams Arrive
The preseason gave a mixed signal about where either team stands. New England went 1-1-1 in its three tune-up games; Seattle finished its own preseason winless at 0-2-1 — numbers that mean little once the games count, but that will be picked apart by both fan bases until the opening whistle.
For Seattle, Wednesday is as much ceremony as competition: the Super Bowl banner goes up before the Patriots even take the field, a deliberate staging of the moment the Seahawks have waited seven months for.
For the first time since 2016, the NFL will have a Super Bowl rematch to kick off a new season.
NFL scheduling office
What It Means Beyond Week One
A rematch this early carries its own psychology — New England gets an immediate, nationally televised shot at answering the Super Bowl loss, while Seattle has to defend a title on the very first night of trying to defend it. Neither team will treat Wednesday as just another opener.
