The Rematch Nobody Waited For

The Patriots and Seahawks meet again tonight to open the 2026 NFL season — a Super Bowl LX rematch just seven months after Seattle lifted the Lombardi Trophy.

Tonight at 8:20 p.m. ET, the NFL returns after a 212-day offseason, and it returns with a rematch nobody expected to see so soon. The New England Patriots travel to Lumen Field to face the Seattle Seahawks — the team that beat them 29-13 in Super Bowl LX just seven months ago — in the league's official 2026 Kickoff Game, airing on NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo.

A Banner Raised, A Rematch Waiting

Before a snap is played, Seattle will pause to unveil its Super Bowl championship banner — a formal close to last season and the opening image of the new one. What follows is historically rare: this marks just the 12th time a regular-season game has pitted the previous year's two Super Bowl participants against each other, and the first time it's happened in the league's marquee season-opening Kickoff Game in a decade, since the Broncos hosted the Panthers in 2016. Only twice before in NFL history has a Week 1 game been a direct Super Bowl rematch at all.

The on-field storylines carry their own weight. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye gets his first regular-season look throwing to A.J. Brown, the Pro Bowl receiver acquired from Philadelphia in a June trade, as New England looks to build on a 14-3 season under second-year head coach Mike Vrabel. Seattle counters with reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba lining up against New England cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who signed a four-year, $135 million extension just two days before kickoff — a deal that made him one of the league's highest-paid defensive backs and put to rest questions about whether he'd even play tonight.

A packed NFL stadium at night under bright lights, evoking a season-opening football game

Lumen Field hosts tonight's rare Super Bowl rematch as the NFL opens its 2026 season.

Whatever happens tonight won't undo Seattle's win in Santa Clara, and both teams know it — a single September game rarely predicts who's standing in February. But there's something fitting about the league opening its new season by forcing its two best teams from the last one to look each other in the eye immediately, rather than waiting a full year for the rematch fans are already calling inevitable. For a fan base that's waited 212 days since the last real football was played, tonight is simply the wait, finally, being over.