AI Summary
5 min readAn Unpatriotic Beginning to the NFL Season
The 2026 NFL season opened with a Wednesday night game in Seattle, a scheduling quirk to accommodate a game in Melbourne, Australia later in the week. It was a rematch of Super Bowl 60, which wasn't very good the first time, and this one wasn't very good either. The Seahawks beat the Patriots 13-10, but the real story wasn't Seattle's comeback — it was New England's collapse. As Ben Maller put it, "Seattle didn't deserve this win. And that seems to happen a lot to that team."
Drake Maye's Nightmare Debut
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye entered the season with momentum as the 2025 NVP runner-up. He left it with a passer rating in the 50s and a new nickname: Drake Maye. In the final three New England possessions, he turned the ball over with interceptions — three of them in the fourth quarter alone. The final one was the dagger. The Patriots had the ball in chip-shot field goal range with the game tied at 10. At worst, they go to overtime. Instead, Maye threw an interception inside the opponent's 20-yard line with less than a minute left, handing Seattle the win.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:42) **Show Open & Setting the Stage** - Ben Maller welcomes listeners to the Thursday edition of the show, recapping the NFL season opener between the Patriots and Seahawks.
- 2 (04:02) **Patriots Lose: Drake Maye’s “Vomit Comet” Performance** - Detailed breakdown of how Drake Maye’s late-game interceptions handed the Seahawks a 13-10 win.
- 3 (12:52) **Romeo Doubs’ Disastrous Patriots Debut** - Maller eviscerates the wide receiver’s zero-catch, one-drop night in his first game with the team.
- 4 (16:58) **Drew Lock: Hero Narrative or Sideways Shuffle?** - Maller pushes back against media coverage framing Lock’s performance as a heroic comeback story.
- 5 (20:04) **Benny vs. the Penny Bet Update & Thursday Night Preview** - Maller discusses the season opener bet result and looks ahead to the Rams-49ers game in Melbourne.
- 6 (21:39) **Caller & Listener Reactions to the Opener** - Maller reads and responds to listener emails and social media comments about the game.
- 7 (31:42) **Caller James: Conspiracy Theories & Doubs’ Excuse** - A live caller from Minneapolis speculates about Seahawks cheating and Romeo Doubs’ postgame comments.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Ben Maller talks about what happened to Patriots QB Drake Maye in the season opener as New England loses to the Seahawks, WR Romeo Dobbs' debut with the Patriots, if the Seahawks are in good hands with Drew Lock replacing Sam Darnold, and much more!
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