Skimming over the first Fantasy Index Weekly of the season and perusing the initial rankings, I notice it's not too friendly to the Patriots. They're the defending AFC Champs, but they've got a really tough matchup tonight.
New England is at Seattle tonight. They've got a great young quarterback in Drake Maye, they've added a franchise No. 1 wide receiver in A.J. Brown, and they've got some other capable pass catchers -- newcomer Romeo Doubs, and veterans like Hunter Henry and DeMario Douglas.
On the downside, they won't have TreVeyon Henderson (ankle), so their backfield will be just Rhamondre Stevenson and Corey Kiner, acquired from Arizona a week ago. And they're facing a defense that was awfully good last year.
Super Bowl Champion Seattle had the league's No. 1 scoring defense a year ago. They were 6th in yards. And in the 20 games they played, their opponent score more than 20 points just six times. Half of those games were by Matthew Stafford and the Rams. Of their other 17 opponents, only three scored more than 20 points. Mike Macdonald (pictured) knows what he's doing.
Table shows game-by-game points, passing yards, rushing yards and turnovers by Seattle's opponents last season, with the averages at the bottom. Teams listed in bold scored more than 20 against them. Will be tough for New England to join that group tonight.
| SEATTLE DEFENSE, 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Pts | PassY | RushY | TO |
| San Francisco 49ers | 17 | 265 | 119 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 17 | 195 | 72 | 2 |
| New Orleans Saints | 13 | 205 | 79 | 1 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 20 | 164 | 89 | 2 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 38 | 370 | 56 | 0 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 12 | 214 | 59 | 0 |
| Houston Texans | 19 | 198 | 56 | 1 |
| Washington Commanders | 14 | 133 | 157 | 2 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 22 | 206 | 129 | 2 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 21 | 130 | 119 | 1 |
| Tennessee Titans | 24 | 232 | 64 | 0 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 0 | 96 | 66 | 5 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 9 | 154 | 120 | 3 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 16 | 118 | 102 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 37 | 457 | 124 | 0 |
| Carolina Panthers | 10 | 40 | 99 | 2 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 3 | 120 | 53 | 1 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 6 | 128 | 108 | 3 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 27 | 365 | 114 | 1 |
| New England Patriots | 13 | 252 | 79 | 3 |
| Average | 17 | 202 | 93 | 2 |
--Andy Richardson

