NFL Box Score Breakdown: Patriots-Seahawks Recap & Usage Stats

The first game of the NFL season is in the books, and it was unfortunately far more interesting for fantasy purposes than any of us had hoped for. Injuries to Sam Darnold and A.J. Brown changed the complexion of the game, ultimately overshadowing the primary fantasy storylines heading into the night (division of snaps/touches in each team's backfield).

I'll get into all the details below, focusing on Jadarian Price, Rhamondre Stevenson and how Brown's injury impacted the other New England wide receivers. You'll also find all of the usual personnel and usage stats, including snap and route shares.

The single-game format here is new, and it's something we'll continue for the TNF and MNF games throughout this season. Long-time fans of Box Score Breakdown will be glad to know that the full beast will still be published every Monday (and updated Tuesday) with a similar look at all 16 games.

These single-game recaps will simply be added to the larger article so that everything is available in one place for those who wisely use BSB as a resource throughout the week. I truly believe there's no better resource for anyone who is serious about deep leagues, DFS, dynasty or prop betting. I've done a lot of different NFL articles for RotoWire over the years, and Box Score Breakdown is by far the most helpful for managing my own fantasy/gambling stuff.

Stats come from NFL Next Gen unless otherwise specified. Bold and blue lettering denote strong/high numbers relative to the player's pre-2026 baseline. Italics and red lettering denote poor/low numbers relative to the player's pre-2026 baseline. Keep in mind that it's a one-game sample, so there's not necessarily a reaction or conclusion for each high/low number. In many cases it's just something to keep track of over the next few weeks, not anything that needs to be acted on immediately.

Patriots (10) at Seahawks (13)

Patriots Personnel:   11p - 59.7%  |  12p - 22.4%  |  21p - 7.5%  |  22p - 7.5%

67 Plays (1st/4)  /  42 Dropbacks (63%)  /  -4.7% PROE (2nd/4)

6.4 aDOT — 23-of-33 for 178 yards — 1 TD, 3 INTs, 3 sacks, 6 scrambles

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• Through their first three drives, the Pats used 11 personnel on just four of 18 snaps on first/second down. They clearly wanted to attack Seattle from heavy looks out of the gate.
• ICYMI, Drake Maye tossed a trio of fourth-quarter interceptions. All were ugly, and all appeared to be his fault. The second one was semi-justifiable in the name of taking a shot on 3rd-and-long, but the first and third picks were just the stupid versions of risk-taking in situations where an incompletion would've been OK.

Backfield

• RB Rhamondre Stevenson played 85% of snaps and got 24 of 32 RB opportunities (75%), working hard for his 95 yards on a night where the blocking was rough and he looked a half step slow out of the blocks.
  • Stevenson played 72% of snaps on first down, 87% on second down and 100% on third down. The Patriots subbed in Corey Kiner for some carries and Lan Larison for a couple of targets on early downs, but Stevenson was entrusted with everything from pass-blocking to short-yardage carries.
  • Kiner and Larison combined for just 20 yards on their eight touches, so we should see another heavy dose of Stevenson if TreVeyon Henderson isn't back for Week 2. Given Wednesday's workload, Stevenson will be a must-start if Henderson is out again for the home game against Pittsburgh.

Pass Catchers

• WR A.J. Brown suffered a high-ankle sprain on the opening drive of the third quarter. He missed the rest of the game and has since been placed on IR, ruling him out through Week 6.
  • The Patriots play a Thursday game in Week 8. It sounds like Brown is in danger of missing time beyond the four-game minimum, so Week 9 is my best guess right now for a return.
  • WR stats after Brown's injury:
    • Mack Hollins: 89% snaps, 4 targets (3-42-0)
    • Pop Douglas: 71% snaps, 4 targets (3-10-0)
    • Romeo Doubs: 71% snaps, 3 targets (0-0-0)
    • Kyle Williams: 29% snaps, 0 targets
  • Brown looked great before his early exit, putting up 3-26-0 and drawing a long DPI penalty near the goal line. However....

• It was a brutal night for Doubs, who played just 42% of snaps before Brown's injury and dropped two of his three targets. One of the drops came late in the game when he was wide open for a gain of 20+; Drake Maye then threw an ugly pick on 3rd-and-long the very next play.
  • Prior to Brown's injury, Doubs got 63% of snaps in 11 personnel and 38% in 12 personnel. After the injury, Doubs took 88% of snaps in 11, but still only 42% in 12 personnel, sharing those snaps with Kyle Williams.
  • Doubs, Hollins and Douglas all topped 80% snap share in 11 personnel after Brown's departure. Douglas was at 100%, but he took just one of the seven snaps in 12 personnel.
• TE Hunter Henry went to the medical tent after a big hit early in the third quarter. He missed some snaps but returned before the end of the quarter.
  • If we look at only Q1, Q2 and Q4, then Henry had an 82% snap share and was on the field for 25 of New England's 28 pass plays. He did block on some of those, but there were only three occasions when he came off the field in favor of Eli Raridon for a pass play in 11 personnel. That's similar to how the Pats deployed Henry last year.
  • Henry finished with a 78% snap share and 58% route share. Assuming he's healthy, I'd expect closer to 80-85% and 70-75%, respectively, in the next game.
• Rookie TE Eli Raridon was schemed wide open for a goal-line TD, but it was his only target and he finished with a route share of just 19%.
  • Raridon did play a good bit, with a 46% snap share even if we don't include the third quarter. He was on the field for every play with multiple TEs throughout the game, and stole a few snaps from Henry in 11 personnel.

Stock ⬆️: WR Mack Hollins, WR DeMario Douglas, TE Eli Raridon (dynasty)

Stock ⬇️: WR A.J. Brown

        

Injuries 🚑: WR A.J. Brown (high ankle)

Seahawks Personnel:   11p - 41.7%  |  12p - 25.0%  |  21p - 27.1%

48 Plays (4th/4)  /  27 Dropbacks (56%)  /  -5.9% PROE (3rd/4)

6.1 aDOT — 17-of-24 for 200 yards — 1 TD, 0 INTs, 2 sacks, 1 scramble

• QB Sam Darnold injured his hip in the first quarter and missed the rest of the game, turning things over to Drew Lock, who sent 10 of the 22 targets to JSN.
  • Lock's numbers look OK (16-of-27 for 182 yards and a TD), but that's mostly because JSN took a short pass for a long TD on a 4th-and-1.
  • Darnold is expected to miss at least one game, but he seemingly avoided the early concerns about a hip fracture. Whatever you think of Darnold, there's no doubt Lock is a major downgrade.
• The Seahawks ran just 48 plays, which helps explain the lack of volume for everyone not named JSN. 
  • For a point of reference, Seattle averaged 59.7 plays per game (21st). League average was 61.3 per game.
• RB Jadarian Price started and ran for 13 yards on the first snap of the season, but George Holani entered two plays later and rotated fairly evenly with Price throughout the game.
  • Price finished with a 50% snap share and 12 of 23 RB opportunities (52%), getting 10 of the 20 carries (8 for Holani, 2 for Wilson) and two of the three targets (1 for Holani).
  • Price took six carries for 42 yards over the first 23 minutes of game time, but he didn't get another carry before halftime and then had just four carries for 10 yards in the second half (negative game script didn't help).
  • Price took 67% of snaps on first/second down but didn't play a single snap on third down. 
    • George Holani took 11 of 12 third-down snaps, while the other was an Emanuel Wilson carry on 3rd-and-1.
  • Wilson played just three snaps, but two of those came on 3rd-and-short & 4th-and-short, plus he had a 2nd-and-short snap wiped out by a penalty.
    • Wilson's only other snap was a random carry on second down. His box score doesn't look problematic for Price, but that might not have been the case if Seattle had visited the goal line.
    • With Holani dominating passing downs and Wilson a threat for goal-line work, Price's initial role feels very similar to that of 2025 Kenneth Walker. That's probably a good thing if you view him as a rookie who didn't get much playing time in college. It's less encouraging if you were counting on Price to be an early fantasy starter. 
    • The good news? A Week 2 matchup with Arizona is the type of game where the "Walker role" might play. The Cardinals will be able to focus on stopping the run more if Sam Darnold is indeed absent, but that may also mean Price is a larger part of the early gameplan for Seattle.

Pass Catchers

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba handled a 92% snap share and 96% route share, rarely leaving the field despite seeing a target on 42.3% of his routes.
  • Last year, JSN's snap/route shares were typically in the 80s. A rise to the 90s might also mean a slight dip in per-route production, but there was no sign of that Wednesday night. Also, it's possible his snap and route shares will dip a little in games with more overall volume. Fatigue wasn't much of an issue with the Seahawks failing to sustain drives.
• JSN, Cooper Kupp and Rashid Shaheed each played 100% of snaps in 11 personnel.
  • In heavier packages (12/21/22), JSN took 83% of snaps, with Kupp at 62% and Shaheed at 44%.
  • There wasn't ultimately a huge difference in the snap/route shares for Kupp and Shaheed, but this does point slightly in Kupp's favor.
  • Kupp made a brilliant one-handed catch and then had a TD wiped out by a penalty shortly thereafter. He could be a decent deep-league play once Darnold is back.
• TE AJ Barner handled an 88% snap share and 70% route share. He got 81% of snaps in 11 personnel, but three of the four plays he missed were passes (with Elijah Arroyo replacing him as the tight end).
  • No need to adjust expectations for Barner based on this one game. He only left the field a few times, and he even got a QB sneak on a 4th-and-1 play, only to have it erased by an offensive penalty.

Stock ⬆️: QB Drew Lock

Stock ⬇️: QB Sam Darnold, WR Rashid Shaheed

        

Injuries 🚑: QB Sam Darnold (hip)

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