The NFL is finally back. We get an early kickoff this year with a Wednesday night game between the Patriots and Seahawks, in a Super Bowl rematch. That Super Bowl made the Patriots look particularly bad. The Seahawks were able to take advantage of New England’s poor offensive line and just kept chipping away on offense. Ultimately, the game ended 29-13 in Seattle’s favor and the Seahawks were crowned the champs. However, its a new season and everyone is starting anew. That includes our Best Bets. We will be continuing to chase down the elusive 60% win rate this year and it all begins tonight. Here is our first best bet for the 2026 season.

Best Bet

SEA -3

Patriots @ Seahawks

Match-up Overview

These teams have faced each other 21 times and Seattle holds the edge 12-9. The most recent matchup was obviously the Super Bowl in February 2026, where the Seahawks won 29-13.

There will be some new faces in this matchup this time. The Seahawks will have a first time play caller on offense with Brian Fleury taking over as OC. He will be without Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker at running back. It will be interesting to see how Feury calls plays and uses some new running backs like Jadarian Price. Quarterback Sam Darnold will debut this new offense and will be surrounded by talent like Jaxon Smith Njigba, Rasheed Shaheed, and AJ Barner. It will be up to Darnold to minimize mistakes much like he did in the Super Bowl.

On the Patriots side, they return several starters but added some offensive weapons with the additions of AJ Brown and Romeo Doubs. They will help support Drake Maye this year. Maye finished 2nd in the MVP race lasty year but struggled in the playoffs and definitely struggled against this Seattle defense. While they have new explosive weapons, the offensive line is still a huge question mark for tonight’s game.

The Public Numbers

Depending on the book, you can get the game at either SEA -3 or -3.5. Currently, 53% of the bets and 58% of the money are being placed on the Patriots to cover the spread. The public certainly believes that it will be a close game but that the Seahawks will win. 84% of the bets and 61% of the money is being placed on the Seahawks to win. The points total is at 44.5. 73% of the bets and 70% of the money are being placed on the under.

Injuries

Seattle

• Nick Emmanwori (Safety) – Questionable
• Tory Horton (WR) – Questionable
• Ty Okada (Safety) – Out

New England

• TreVeyon Henderson (RB) – Out
• Ben Brown (Center) – Out

Best Bet Background: SEA -3

Based on the performances in the Super Bowl, it is hard to imagine a different outcome this go around. Both teams will have good defenses as they line up tonight. The question will be, who can get the edge on offense? As we saw in the Super Bowl, the Patriots’ offensive line proved to be a huge weakness and allowed the Seattle defense to dictate the game. The big issue was the blocking of Will Campbell at left tackle. He is starting at left tackle tonight again and will be an easy target for this deep defensive line to attack. I think that this game flow will be pretty similar to that of the Super Bowl. Both defenses will be playing at a high level and it will be up to the respective offenses to minimize mistakes.