Five Primetime Home Games and Our Seahawks Are Living Rent-Free in the NFL's Head

Alright, 12s, grab your coffee. The NFL officially dropped our 2026 schedule, and let me tell you, it's a statement. Our Seattle Seahawks, the reigning Super Bowl champs, are kicking things off with a massive rematch against the New England Patriots on September 9. Get ready, because the league is showing major love to the Emerald City, and we're about to own Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday...) nights!

National Love for Our Champs

If you thought the NFL would sleep on our Hawks after a Super Bowl run, think again. The league went absolutely all out for Seattle. We're talking five of our nine home games slated for primetime, and that's just remarkable. It proves the NFL and every major television network believes in what Mike Macdonald and this team are building. Remember that wild season where we won it all, and the league barely gave us any primetime home games outside of opening night? Yeah, that's not happening this time. We're living in a different world now, with more national broadcasts and networks to fill, and they want our Super Bowl champs front and center. Only two of our seven standalone offerings, Week 13 against the Dallas Cowboys and Week 7 versus the Kansas City Chiefs, are even eligible to be flexed out of primetime. Honestly, it would take a total disaster for those games to get bumped. For me? NFL RedZone is gonna be my best friend for eight out of a possible 17 Sundays.

That Week 1 Rematch? Forget What You Saw.

Look, I know some folks are grumbling about starting the season with a Patriots rematch, saying we just saw it a few months ago and it wasn't pretty. Personally, I loved every second of that Super Bowl, but hey, I'm a biased fan! Here's the deal though: September 9 is going to be a completely different game. The Patriots certainly aren't trotting out the same squad; they've added Romeo Doubs, Dre’Mont Jones, Kevin Byard, Alijah Vera-Tucker, and potentially even A.J. Brown. Guys like K’Lavon Chaisson, Anfernee Jennings, Stefon Diggs, and Garrett Bradbury are gone. After a playoff run plagued by poor offensive line play, they signed a guard in free agency and drafted Caleb Lomu in the first round. And for our Hawks? Our Super Bowl MVP is rocking another jersey. We've said goodbye to Coby Bryant, Boye Mafe, and Riq Woolen, with rookies stepping in for two of those spots. But on the bright side, Tory Horton should be back from injury, and we've got a shiny new first-round running back ready to feast. Plus, we'll see our first-time offensive coordinator and play-caller, Brian Fleury, truly unleash his vision. Rosters have changed enough that you should absolutely expect a fresh dynamic, even if the result stays the same.

Denver's Thin Air: Our Toughest Road Trip, Period.

Okay, if there's one game that immediately jumps out as a nightmare scenario, it's our Thursday night trip to Denver. For the first time in eight years, our Seahawks are hitting the road for a regular season game against the Broncos. Acclimating to that high elevation and thin air in Denver is tough enough on a normal week, but we've got a home game in Week 5 against the San Francisco 49ers right before it. That's a brutal, tight turnaround against one of the league's top defenses. You can say "Bo Nix isn’t good, he’s not healthy, he can't score on Mike Macdonald" all you want, but I don't care. That Broncos team should've been in the Super Bowl last year if Nix's ankle hadn't snapped. This will very likely be a difficult game under normal circumstances, let alone off a short week. Thankfully, this is our only Sunday-Thursday stretch all season. So there it is, the gauntlet laid out. Our Super Bowl defense begins September 9 against the Patriots. Get ready to see our Hawks dominate under the lights. It's time to show the league why the Lombardi lives in Seattle!

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.