The 2026 NFL season will kick off with a Super Bowl rematch. Mike Macdonald, Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks will face off against Mike Vrabel, Drake Maye and the New England Patriots after raising their championship banner on Sept. 9 in the first of the NFL’s 272 games. The Seahawks dominated the Patriots in a 29-13 victory in February that secured the franchise’s second NFL title. The game will mark just the third time that the teams that played in the Super Bowl face off again in Week 1. The last time came in 2016, when the Broncos beat the Panthers. Overall, the Super Bowl opponents have met 11 times the following season, including each of the last three years. The defending champions are 8-3 in those games. The Eagles followed up a Super Bowl victory with another win over the Chiefs in Week 2 last year. “Yes, it was definitely a key data point for us,” NFL executive Hans Schroeder said. “We saw what a big draw that was and so we just thought it was really fun.…