The Patriots got embarrassed in Seattle. That stings, and it should. But here's the thing about 0-1: it's still September, the sample size is tiny, and smart teams mine the film for actual evidence of competence before they start reloading the entire roster.
Mack Hollins was one of those bright spots. The veteran wideout actually competed in the fourth quarter against Josh Jobe and the Seahawks secondary, which tells you something important—when the game is live and the pressure is real, Hollins didn't disappear. That matters. In a Patriots offense that's presumably being built around depth and scheme fit rather than star power, having a guy who shows up in losses is the foundation you need to build on.
The obvious question is: how bad was the overall performance? Bad enough that you can't sugarcoat it. But there's a difference between accepting that Week 1 was a disaster and pretending nothing worked at all. Mike Vrabel didn't come to New England to oversee a team that folds in the fourth quarter. The offensive scheme, the defensive philosophy—these things require reps and continuity. One game against Seattle's defense isn't enough data to condemn any of it.
What matters now is the urgency of the fixes. If the issues were schematic mismatches, that's actually fixable week-to-week. If they were execution failures—missed assignments, dropped passes, poor decision-making—then Vrabel has the track record to tighten that up. If they were talent deficiencies? That's the harder conversation, but it's still only Week 1.
Hollins and whoever else showed competence against Seattle deserve another chance to prove it wasn't a fluke. The rest of the roster deserves to prove they can correct what went wrong. That's not blind optimism. That's just how football works. You get tape, you fix it, you go again.
The wreck happened. Now comes the rebuild—starting this Sunday.
Based on reporting from Pats Pulpit.