One of the biggest matchups of the regular season takes place on Sunday Night Football when the New England Patriots play host to the Seattle Seahawks. Tom Brady will try to keep New England atop the AFC in what promises to be a sellout crowd in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX.
Seahawks vs. Patriots 2016 live stream: How to watch ‘Sunday Night Football’ online
One of the biggest games of the regular season takes place in New England on Sunday night.
That 2014 title game went down as one of the greatest in football history when the Patriots held off a furious comeback effort to prevent the Seahawks the opportunity to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Undrafted rookie free agent Malcolm Butler stepped in front of Russell Wilson’s slant to Ricardo Lockette in the end zone to give Brady his fourth NFL championship and third Super Bowl MVP prize.
The two franchises have remained at the top of their games since then. New England followed up its title with a trip to last year’s AFC Championship, where Stephen Gostkowski’s missed extra point proved to be the difference between losing and overtime. Seattle was cut down in the Divisional round of the playoffs by the eventual conference champion Carolina Panthers.
Now they’ll meet again with title aspirations on the line. The Patriots are the betting favorite to win Super Bowl LI at 2:1. The Seahawks are next in line, albeit at a more rewarding 8:1 stake.
That’s because New England has burned down its competition and salted the earth in its wake since getting Brady back from his four-game DeflateGate suspension. The Patriots have scored 34 points per game and won each of those by an average of more than 16 points with the veteran passer behind center. That performance has been impressive enough to make Brady an MVP candidate despite missing a giant chunk of the season due to disciplinary reasons.
The Patriots have some questions on defense, however. New England has struggled to find the answer at cornerback behind Butler, and the unit has allowed opposing quarterbacks to throw for more than 250 yards per game this season — a mark ranked a middling 18th in the league. Bill Belichick has jettisoned versatile defenders like Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins and received little immediate help in return. Could Sunday night be when those moves come back to but the Patriots?
Wilson had an impressive performance on Monday against Buffalo. The Seattle quarterback threw only six incomplete passes while accounting for 282 yards through the air and three total touchdowns. He’s looking healthy once again after spraining his ankle early in the season, and that’s bad news for the Pats. New England’s lone loss came in a game where Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor frequently used his scrambling ability to extend plays and keep the defense guessing.
Seattle won’t just need Wilson at the top of his game on Sunday. The Seahawks have been stung by their inability to run the ball in 2016. In Week 9, they ran for just 33 yards against a stingy Buffalo defense. Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia will find an advantage against the home team if Pete Carroll can’t find a way to jump start Christine Michael, C.J. Prosise, and the rest of the Seahawk running attack.
If that happens, they’ll have to count on shutting down the Patriots’ offense with Brady behind center. As four teams have already learned this fall, that’s no easy task.
How to Watch Seattle Seahawks vs. New England Patriots
When: 8:30 p.m. ET
Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.
TV: NBC
Announcers: Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth, and Michele Tafoya
Online: Sunday Ticket, NBC Sports
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