Storylines to watch when the Seahawks play the Patriots in Week 2

Coming off their dominant defensive performance last weekend at home against the Denver Broncos, the Seahawks travel to the Northeast to take on the New England Patriots, who are fresh off an upset win over the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams start their season 1-0, but only one team will come out on Sunday as still undefeated.

This is not the same New England team that won six Super Bowls over the past twenty years, but this team should not be underestimated. After moving on from quarterback Mac Jones this past offseason and drafting quarterback Drake Maye in April's draft, the Patriots are actually rolling with veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissett.

This is a young inexperienced Patriots team who fired legendary head coach Bill Belichick this offseason and promoted Jerod Mayo to the head coach role. Believe it or not. the Seahawks and Patriots have far more in common than one would've thought. Both teams have first-year head coaches, a young, talented defense, and an offensive line that struggled mightily in week one.

Storylines to watch for 12s when the Seahawks take on the Patriots

The New England offense

Jacoby Brissett was named the starting quarterback in the preseason, even after the team drafted Drake Maye with the third overall pick in this year's draft. It was a bit of a surprise, but Brissett is an efficient quarterback capable of managing the team to a win on any given Sunday. Last week in Cincinnati, New England leaned heavily on the ground game, as running back Rhamondre Stevenson carried the ball 25 times for 120 yards.

The Patriots have a young, unproven wide receiver room. Their leading wide receiver in week one, 24-year-old Tyquan Thornton had two catches for 27 yards. No other receiver had more than three catches for 21 yards. Brissett only attempted 24 throws for 121 yards, but did not turn the ball over and made some big plays when New England needed him to.

However, the real Achilles' heel for the Patriots last week was their offensive line. The box score shows they only allowed one sack and opened up holes for 170 rushing yards, but the tape shows a different story. Like Seattle, the Patriots' offensive line allowed a handful of pressures up the middle of the line against a mediocre Cincinnati pass rush. Watch for New England to try to establish the run early.

The Patriots' young, talented defense

Make no mistake, the Patriots have a good defense. The unit allowed only 10 points to Joe Burrow and the Bengals at home. New England only allowed 224 yards of total offense and forced two turnovers as they suffocated a very talented Bengals offense.

The talent for New England's defense starts in the secondary. Second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez followed Ja'Marr Chase for most of the day and only allowed 6 catches for 62 yards, and kept him out of the endzone. Safety Kyle Dugger made his presence felt in both run and pass defense, as the 6'1" safety racked up six tackles and a pass breakup. The entire secondary unit as a whole stifled Burrow and the Cincinnati pass game all day.

Up front, the New England front seven held Cincinnati to 70 total rushing yards on 16 attempts. Seattle will almost certainly rush the ball more than 16 times, so that will be an interesting storyline going into Sunday. New England got to Burrow three times, including 2.5 sacks from linebacker Keion White.

Against a Seattle offensive line that allowed pressure on Geno Smith on what seemed like every dropback last Sunday, the Patriots could feast this weekend. It is worth noting, with all the pressure and free rushers last weekend, Smith was only sacked twice, which seems like a miracle.

The bottom line

At the beginning of the season, a week two game against the New England Patriots seemed like an easy win. We figured the Patriots would be 0-1 with a rookie Drake Maye starting. However, the reality is New England surprised everyone last week and showed they are not going to just roll over this season. They have a legit defense that is capable of blowing up Seattle's offense on Sunday.

The key for Seattle to win is to establish the run. Cincinnati had virtually no ground game last week and it made throwing the ball that much harder. Ken Walker had a nice game against Denver last week, but Denver is not good at defending the run. This will be a genuine test for the offensive line. Establishing an efficient ground game will be key to opening up the passing game.

The Seattle defense has to pick up where they left off last Sunday. The Seahawks allowed less than 100 yards rushing on 25 attempts last week, but New England rushed for 170 against a good Cincinnati defensive front. If Mike Macdonald and the Seahawks can stifle Rhamondre Stevenson on the ground, or at least contain him, forcing Jacoby Brissett to drop back and throw to unproven wide receivers against a Seattle secondary that feasted last week could be conducive to a comfortable win.

The Seahawks and Patriots game on Sunday is set for 10 am PT/1 pm ET, the first of only two 10 am starts this season. Expect this game to be another low-scoring affair, with both defenses getting the upper hand, as the total is only set at 38 points.

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