Seahawks and Patriots meet for 1st time since their dramatic Super Bowl matchup

The Seahawks travel to Gillette Stadium on Sunday night in a much-anticipated Super Bowl 49 rematch against the Patriots. The last time these two teams met, Malcolm Butler’s goal line interception in the game’s final seconds sealed New England’s fourth championship.

At 7-1, the Patriots are arguably the best team in the league right now. They’re coming off a bye week and will be more than rested to face a Seattle team that is 5-2-1, but needed all four quarters to beat the Bills last week.

Dion Lewis will make his return to the offense Sunday after an injury prematurely ended his 2015 campaign last November. Coming back from two knee surgeries, Lewis will only help bolster the Patriots’ running game.

LeGarrette Blount is New England’s No. 1 running back at the moment, and the Oregon product is averaging 3.8 yards per carry through eight games in 2016. But Lewis, who had a great start to his season last year, will add another scatback option for coach Bill Belichick in addition to James White.

Seattle will be missing its influential defensive end Michael Bennett, who caused all sorts of trouble for the Patriots’ line and registered four hits on Tom Brady in Super Bowl 49. Bennett recently underwent knee surgery and has been ruled out for the game.

“If he’s not the best defensive player in the league, I don’t know who is,” Brady said earlier this week about Bennett.

However, the Seahawks are getting one of their best defenders back on the field. Safety Kam Chancellor is ready to play after dealing with a groin injury that cost him four games.

Chancellor’s teammate Richard Sherman, who is coming off a controversial game against the Bills, has been active on Twitter, hyping fans up about the Super Bowl rematch. The Seattle corner has had a mixed history with Brady, but in the build-up to Sunday’s matchup, he wasn’t giving the Patriots’ quarterback any bulletin board material.

“You just have to tackle well and be ready for quick passes and the occasional shot,” Sherman said. “He’s very creative in the way he manipulates a defense. He does a great job with his eyes. And obviously staying off of him — they’ve got several rules to protect him in various situations, so you’ve got to be careful with how you sack him.”

Still, this will only be the third time the two have faced off in their careers. In fact, Sherman rose to prominence after his postgame confrontation with Brady following their first matchup, a hotly contested game at CenturyLink Field in 2012.

“Every time’s kind of a new adventure, a new season, a new approach,” Sherman said.

Brady has been playing at an MVP level since returning from his four-game DeflateGate suspension, completing 73.1 percent of his passes for 1,319 yards, 12 touchdowns, and no interceptions.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has noticed — and is impressed.

“He looks great,” Carroll said this week. “He’s on fire. He hasn’t thrown an interception yet, he’s completed 70-something percent of his passes, he’s on fire. He has even taken off and run a couple times just to show that he can and he looks good moving around. You see no wear at all, he’s fresh and ready to go.”

On Sunday, the two franchises will meet for the 17th time. They have split the regular season series, 8-8, with the Seahawks winning their last meeting, 24-23, four years ago. The one still fresh on everyone’s minds, though, is the 28-24 Super Bowl win for the Patriots two years later. The stakes aren’t as high this time around, but at least football fans get to see two of league’s best teams face off again.