Jane Slater previews Patriots-Seahawks Week 1 matchup 'GMFB'
NFL Network's Jane Slater previews the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks Week 1 matchup.
Video Transcript
With several players ahead of their opener.
So Jane, what's the mood and attitude ahead of game one of 2026?
You know, you talked about those rings, Jamie.
Wearing the rings around the building are fine, but according to Julian Love, don't show up wearing any Super Bowl swag, and that's because that was last year.
They've moved on.
There is a different vibe.
They are very sweet rings though, I gotta give you that.
You know, the mentality that I got from Love was essentially, look, we're repeating to cli- it saying he's trying to climb a mountain again.
He says they're back at base camp.
So this isn't just about avoiding complacency, it's again, it's that new team, it's that new vibe.
And you know, some Patriots, including linebacker Robert Spillane, they've never even played in Seattle.
Spillane told me they know what awaits them inside one of the league's loudest stadiums, and Mike Vrabel has been preparing them by pumping the crowd noise as a lot of these teams do into practice.
Vrabel's team though, perfect away from home during the 2025 regular season.
8-0, and then of course they won the AFC Championship game in Denver to become the first team in NFL history to go 9-0 in true road games over a full season.
So that is what makes this matchup so delicious, guys.
You know, I started, I'm starting the season with these two teams.
I ended it with them last year.
Excited to see what these rosters are looking like.
Absolutely.
And, and Jane, Julian Love is just the perfect guy to talk to about this because he has such grand perspective about what it's like to be on some very challenging seas- in part of some challenging seasons, and then a championship one.
So Julian also told you that with a new team comes a new vibe, and that's really true for both.
So what are some things that in all of the changes that we have seen now creates a different outcome for these teams?
That's interesting, Jamie.
There are a lot of changes, and this is why players get so emotional.
Manti Isaiah, they can talk about this.
They get so emotional at the end of the year because this is just the nature of the league.
The rosters change.
The staff changes.
When you look at Seattle, there has been a lot of changes in Seattle specifically, three significant ones.
We'll start with the OC.
You know, Kliff Kubiak is now the head coach with the Raiders.
That means they bring in Brian Fleury.
Brian Fleury is a first time play caller.
Now, he comes from the Shanahan coaching tree, so they feel good about him, and what he's been able, to do there.
But you know, Spillane is a self-described film junkie, and he told me that presents a challenge 'cause the Patriots don't have much tape revealing Fleury's tendencies as a play caller.
They do however truly believe that he's gonna keep some of the offensive concepts.
All right, backfield also different.
Super bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, he signed with Kansas City.
Zach Charbonnet, he's beginning the season on pup.
Rookie Jadarian Price could have an immediate role.
But remember, playing running back is about more than carrying the ball.
Pass protection's gonna be critical against the Patriot defense, and Spillane said New England has spent significant time studying Price's Notre Dame tape.
Seattle also lost safety, Kobe Bryant to Chicago.
Love called Bryant the Seahawks attitude guy.
So Mike McDonald is now challenging love and others to become more vocal, bring that edge, and more importantly hold one another accountable.
But he told me, guys, he was like, "This isn't something that I naturally do."
He's like, "Normally I just let my play do the talking," but he says he really wants us to challenge guys in practice, and he stepped up and he's been doing just that.
Jane, how dare we?
How dare we go this long into a segment about the Seahawks and the Patriots and we not say the name of a man who led, not really even the news cycle of just the off-season, but frankly in the last season as well.
We were curious about where A.J.
Brown was going to go in 2026 because he knew that locker was not gonna be the nameplate in Philadelphia.
So A.J.
Brown, his arrival, how does this change this match up against Seattle?
You know we had to save the best for last, Jamie.
I had to set the table, let you know what we're working with here.
Yes, A.J.
Brown.
The, the thing about this is this now gives Maye, Drake Maye, a, finally a true number one receiver, and that's no disrespect to some of the other guys.
A.J.
Brown is just that special.
You know when you look at it, Seattl-Seattle's player told me that tackling's gonna be critical, especially with a guy like that.
They missed some of those early in the Super Bowl, and against a player as powerful as Brown, one missed tackle can become an explosive play.
Love called Brown an alpha receiver who creates issues.
He's physical, strong, aggressive.
He can win those one-on-one matchups.
But I got a graphic for you.
I think we've got it.
This might be the mo- most dangerous part of the pairing.
Brown has 89 career receptions for more than 1,800 yards on type window targets, the most in next gen stats era.
Now, he's paired with a quarterback willing to make those throws.
Drake Maye led the NFL last season with 47.7% completion rate on those tight window attempts.
That means all hands on deck for Devon Witherspoon, Josh Jobe, Julian Love.
With Romeo Doubs, Hunter Henry, DeMario Douglas, all commanding attention.
That means Seattle really has to devote extra coverage to Brown down field, but does that mean the Patriots can also create space for everyone else underneath?
And then let's talk next week our focus shifts to Christian Gonzalez.
We can't talk about it too early.
Remember, he's got the contract stuff going on.
Now, he hasn't definitively said that he is going to be in this one, but Spillane told me that watching him play q-, is quote, "Like an artist painting a picture."
He's crafty, very smart, sensational ball skills, and all you have to do is look at that masterpiece that was the Super Bowl.
Jason lead the NFL in receiving yards, but Gonzales contained him.
In the 14 plays he traveled him, he's only been targeted, he was only targeted three times for one catch, 16 yards.
So let's see how that contract situation plays out.
I tend to think, guys, they would be crazy not to bring him back when you talk to some of the players on this roster and what he means to them, what he meant to that Super Bowl game.
Really sort of helping them limit some of the damage that Seattle's offense was able to do.
We'll see if this thing gets figured out, but we'll have a better sense of that through the weekend.
Yesterday was their traditional Monday.
Today is their off day, and then they're back at it, this weekend as they get as game ready as they can for a Wednesday game.
And real quick, a lot of people have asked me, when was the last time the league had a Wednesday game to start the season?
You'd have to go all the way back to 2012.
They moved that one for the DNC.
This one got moved for the Australia game.
Makes sense.
Shane, yeah, how can you not invest in a young guy that takes away half of a field in a Super Bowl?
Christian Gonzalez, hope that thing gets figure out for the New England Patriots.
Jane Slater, thank you so much
