The 2026 NFL season kicks off tonight exactly how the 2025 season ended – with the New England Patriots facing the Seattle Seahawks. While tonight’s game does not have the same stakes as the Seahawks’ Super Bowl win in February, it does provide us with a marquee matchup to begin the year…on a Wednesday night.
Every year here on The Phinsider, we conduct a season-long, straight-up winners predictions pool. Our contributors are all welcome to join, and this year, through our friends at TallySight, we will track the community picks for the game as well. You can join in using the widget below. Can you beat our contributors?
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When: 8:15 p.m. Eastern, Wednesday, September 9
TV Coverage: NBC
Odds (via FanDuel Sportsbook): Seattle -3.5 / 44.5 total points
Congratulations to Sumeet Jena, who won our season-long pool for last year. Our final standings from last season were:
Sumeet Jena (184-100-1)
James McKinney (170-104-1)
Marek Brave (176-108-1)
Kevin Nogle (173-111-1)
Here are our opening picks for the 2026 season:
