The New England Patriots spent seven months preparing for their rematch with the Seattle Seahawks.
Then, when the moment arrived, Drake Maye’s patience wavered, the offence unravelled, and the Patriots handed the Seahawks a victory with a fourth-quarter meltdown.
“Thought we had a good plan to start chipping away and be patient and lost patience and it cost us. Decisions cost us the game on my part, on my end.”
New England led Seattle 10-0 late in the third quarter.
The Patriots were 20 minutes away from upsetting the defending Super Bowl champions in their own building when everything fell apart.
“It’s unacceptable and I know we got to get back to work. That wasn’t how I play football and how I want to represent my game and playing quarterback for the Patriots.”
As ugly as things looked in the fourth quarter, it’s important to keep in mind that FanDuel had this marked as a scheduled loss.
New England’s win total remains at 9.5 this morning.
Whether or not Maye and the Patriots can recover, with or without A.J. Brown, is the important question now.
Fortunately, Rhamondre Stevenson over 23.5 receiving yards cashed before that disastrous fourth quarter.
Stevenson led New England with five receptions for 44 yards through three quarters then wasn’t targeted again in the final frame.
After kicking off the NFL season with a FanDuel Best Bet winner, it’s time to turn the page this morning.
NFL fans have spent the past few days debating the best way to negate the impact that the 16-hour flight and time zone change will have on tonight’s game in Australia.
I’ll spare you my take on circadian rhythm and get straight to the next ticket.
Let’s lock in a FanDuel Best Bet for tonight’s NFL game in this Morning Coffee for Thursday September 10th, 2026.
Rams Kick Off Season In Melbourne As Obvious Super Bowl Favourite
We spent the entire offseason hyping the Los Angeles Rams as the most obvious Super Bowl favourite in years.
There’s no way they will be forced to sit through an entire 16-hour flight back to California this weekend as the fourth-place team in their own division, right?
This morning, the Rams and San Francisco 49ers are both looking up at the defending Super Bowl champions in the NFC West standings.
LA is still the obvious Super Bowl favourite at +550.
Seattle (+1200) and San Francisco (+1700) are also both among the top six choices to win it all at FanDuel.
A year ago, Mac Jones led the 49ers to a 26-23 win over the Rams in overtime that had major repercussions in the NFC playoff race.
Seattle, LA, and San Francisco all went on to make the playoffs, but the Seahawks clinched the NFC’s No. 1 seed, a bye, and home field advantage based largely on a pair of overtime losses by the Rams to both division rivals.
LA upgraded a leaky defence and special teams this offseason with the hope that it will be enough to elevate them to the top of the NFC West.
It’s only fitting that their first test comes against the rival 49ers in their season opener.
Aaron Donald didn’t travel to Australia.
However, the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year favourite Myles Garrett did, along with former All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie and the rest of LA’s starters.
I can’t wait to see what Kyle Shanahan and his staff draw up to try to limit Garrett’s impact in his Rams debut.
Both head coaches have had plenty of time to prepare.
Shanahan is 11-8 straight up and ATS versus McVay.
However, the Rams have gone 5-1 ATS in the past six meetings, and they clearly have multiple edges they should be able to capitalize on in this matchup.
McVay is 3-0 SU and ATS in International Series Games.
He’s also 7-2 ATS in season openers in his NFL career.
LA went 12-5 ATS last season – tied for the best mark in the entire NFL.
The Rams are a 3.5-point favourite at FanDuel.
The total is 48.5 and it’s juiced to the under at -115.
For my FanDuel Best Bet, I’ll lock in Brock Purdy over 17.5 rushing yards.
Purdy went over this number in five of his final six games, averaging 30.5 yards in two playoff games.
Purdy has already discussed using his legs more often this offseason, and he might not have much of a choice with Garrett and company getting after him tonight.
George Kittle is active but hasn’t had any live reps since tearing his Achilles in the playoffs.
Mike Evans has almost missed practice time with various injuries ahead of his 49ers debut.
Nobody would be surprised if Christian McCaffrey is heavily involved in San Francisco’s game plan once again.
However, the lack of preseason reps combined with the Rams’ new-look pass rush has me convinced that Purdy will need to use his legs tonight regardless.
I’ll lock in Purdy over 17.5 rushing yards as the best bet.
Hopefully, we can move to 2-0 with another winner to kick off the 2026 NFL regular season.
Have a great day, everyone!
