The Seattle Seahawks are less than a week away from kicking off their Super Bowl-defending season against the same team they beat last year in that championship game: the New England Patriots. Whether scheduling this rematch as the first game of the season, rather than in the middle, is good for the league or not, it still gives fans an early pulse on their home teams.
For the Patriots, they didn't just lose the Super Bowl; they lost big. Maybe they would prefer to get this rematch over and done with right away, because most of the oddsmakers and even Las Vegas have them as big underdogs against the Seahawks again. New England, Mike Vrabel, and Drake Maye are all under pressure.
Over on the Seahawks side, while there is pressure to repeat, it's not the same as the Patriots. The most pressure the Seahawks will face this season won't be a Week 1 opener, but a very tough and competitive division of their own.
New England Patriots HC Mike Vrabel is more focused on fundamentals rather than the Seattle Seahawks
In any case, it all starts with Week 1 against the Patriots, but if Seattle was hoping to get a glimpse into New England's plan of revenge, Vrabel won't be the one to give it up.
"I think you have to be careful how much you do early on. I don't know how much gets retained, but you try to focus on fundamentals, our offense and what it is that we're trying to do in all three phases," Vrabel said. "Then there were times during training camp or times last week that we tried to do stuff. But I think you just have to be careful. It's the first game.
"They got a new coordinator, and some things will be different. I'm sure they'll have some plays that are similar that they like and I think their defensive structure may be the same, it may not. It's a good defense."
Again, it wasn't just a loss that ended the Patriots' season at the hands of the Seahawks. It was a 16-point loss that saw the Patriots go the first three quarters without scoring a single point. Had the Seahawks not exploded for 17 points of their own in the fourth quarter, the Patriots' 13 points in the same frame could have put the game away.
Overall, New England's postseason wasn't great, and the Seahawks stamped their vacation tickets in with a blowout. You would think that with an inevitable regular-season rematch next season, the losing team would want to focus on their conquerors with more aggression. However, Vrabel doesn't appear to follow that mindset, and perhaps, as the head coach of an NFL team, he's better not to.
At the same time, it is a Super Bowl rematch, and the Patriots are already expected to lose. For many coaches, that may add some fuel to the fire. Vrabel, instead, doesn't see any fire, smoke, or reason to blow this game out of proportion, for that matter. Vrabel's recent point is not focusing too much on the Seahawks despite his recent history with them. Instead, he's planning for this game like any other.
It is only Week 1, which makes Vrabel's comments reasonable to a degree. That said, it sounds like he's not putting an overabundance of stock in his preparation for Seattle, a team he just lost to in a Super Bowl. When Vrabel talks about trying to do stuff in training camp, he's talking about the Seahawks' preparation, but it doesn't sound like much.
Would Vrabel's approach be different if his Patriots were scheduled to play the Seahawks later in the season rather than in the first game? Or is Vrabel simply intentionally not giving the Seahawks or the media material to use, with very little time between now and kickoff?
If the goal is not to focus on their last results against Seattle, then that's fair. However, avoiding focus on their last opponent, as if they weren't the ones to blow your team out in the Super Bowl, might be too light an approach.
One thing is sure: the Seahawks aren't preparing light. They're preparing heavily, and you can bet they're determined not to drop their first game to the team they beat for a championship eight months ago.
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