The Seahawks left New England with a 13-10 comeback win and a very specific kind of proof: their defense can keep them afloat even when Sam Darnold is forced out of the game.
That was the first storyline to emerge from the Super Bowl rematch. Darnold was sacked, limped off the field and into the injury tent, and did not return after suffering a hip injury. The timetable for his return is not definite yet, which makes Seattle’s ability to survive the rest of the afternoon more than a one-game footnote.
It also made the final quarter feel like a study in two different kinds of collapse.
For Seattle, the question was whether the offense could function without its quarterback. For New England, it was whether Drake Maye could finish the game the way he started it. Through three quarters, he looked in control: 17 of 22 for 127 yards and a touchdown, with the Patriots holding a 10-3 lead. Then the game turned sharply.
Maye’s fourth quarter was the kind that can erase everything that came before it. He went 6 of 11 for 53 yards and threw three interceptions, and those mistakes were identified as the factor that cost the Patriots the game. Afterward, Maye was blunt about what changed.
“I just stopped being patient. That was the big thing,” he said.
That admission fit the shape of the fourth quarter. New England had a lead and a quarterback who had been efficient for most of the day, but the final 15 minutes belonged to Seattle’s defense and to the turnovers it forced. The Patriots’ offense never recovered from those interceptions, and the Seahawks finished the comeback to move to 1-0.
The defensive numbers help explain why Seattle could absorb the loss of Darnold and still close the game out. The Patriots managed only a 33.3% Success Rate on running back runs against the Seahawks, a figure that would have ranked last in the league for 2025. Maye also finished with a 43.4% pressure rate despite not seeing much blitzing, which meant Seattle was affecting the pocket without having to sell out to do it.
That balance is part of what gives the Seahawks such a wide margin for error. Their defense was described as giving them one of the widest margins of error in the sport, and the game showed why: even after Darnold went down, they could keep the Patriots from finding a clean rhythm on the ground and still force the late mistakes that decided the outcome.
The contrast with New England was stark. The Patriots had built a 10-3 lead behind a steady first three quarters from Maye, but the fourth quarter turned into a sequence of stalled drives and interceptions. Seattle, meanwhile, had to adjust on the fly after losing its quarterback and still found enough defensive control to finish the job.
That is why the result leaves two equally clear takeaways. One team is built to withstand quarterback uncertainty. The other let a winnable game slip away in the final quarter.