Overreacting to the highs and lows of Week 1 might only be topped by the same exercise in Week 2 should the outcomes differ.

That's the situation the Patriots find themselves in after a 35-30 setback in Seattle, which dropped the team to 1-1 in 2020.

Just who are the real Patriots?

For starters, a team with an elite quarterback. Despite the frustrations of seeing Cam Newton being denied at the goal line as time expired in the fourth quarter, the former league MVP has proven that he still resides in the game's upper echelon at the position.

Newton completed 30 of 44 passes for 397 yards -- the third-highest mark of his career -- and threw for his first touchdown pass as a Patriots, a 1-yard strike to fullback Jakob Johnson.

Running the ball continues to be second nature for Newton, who had two more rushing touchdowns and 47 more yards to move past Randall Cunningham into second place on the NFL's all-time rushing yards list.

Newton's failure to cross the goal line on the last play of the game may stand out, while his first interception as a Patriot is never a good thing, but it's truly a credit to him that New England was even in position to pull off the unthinkable in the first place.

All Patriots ball carriers not named Cam Newton amassed just 20 yards on 14 carries, a figure which is simply unacceptable.

The Patriots may also be a team that still has a long way to go on defense. One week after making Ryan Fitzpatrick look like...well, Ryan Fitzpatrick (three interceptions), New England made Russell Wilson look like the prohibitive MVP favorite through two weeks.

Wilson threw five touchdown passes to five different receivers, overcoming an early mistake on an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Devin McCourty.

The touchdown for McCourty, which came on Seattle's third play from scrimmage, was his second career pick-six and third score overall, as well as the 27th interception of his career overall.

New England's early edge was short lived, however, as Wilson commenced his slicing and dicing routine that would see him finish with 288 yards on 21 of 28 passing.

Wilson hit Tyler Lockett for a 4-yard score to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:27 left in the first. Newton engineered a 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive which culminated in his first rushing touchdown with 13:59 left in the second quarter.

Following a rare exchange of punts, the Seahawks pulled even again on a 54-yard bomb from Wilson to DK Metcalf -- the receiver taken 32 picks after N'Keal Harry in the 2019 NFL Draft -- with 6:57 to go in the first half.

The Patriots failed to take the lead back late in the first half after Nick Folk missed a 51-yard field goal, but succeeded on a Folk attempt from half the distance on the opening drive of the third quarter to make it 17-14.

Seattle scored touchdowns on each of its next two series, first on a 38-yard reception by David Moore and then, after Newton was picked off by Quinton Dunbar, a 21-yard catch by Freddie Swain to pull ahead 28-17.

Johnson's first career touchdown catch, with 14:14 left in regulation, made it a one-score game once again at 28-23, but the ensuing two-point conversion attempt failed.

Seattle seemingly put the game away with a scoring drive that ended with 4:32 left on an 18-yard catch by Chris Carson, but Newton led the Patriots downfield once more on a seven-play, 75-yard drive accentuated by a diving 33-yard catch by Julian Edelman to set up Newton's second 1-yard rushing score.

Edelman finished the game with eight catches for 179 yards, the latter total a career high.

The Seahawks went three-and-out and punted the ball back to New England with 1:42 left in regulation and the Patriots still equipped with two timeouts.

Starting from their own 19-yard line, the Patriots faced little adversity on their way downfield -- they never even faced a third down -- before setting up the game's final showdown at the Seattle 1-yard line and 0:03 on the clock.

With a pair of rushing touchdowns from just outside the goal line on the evening already to his credit, the try for a third seemed a reasonable call from New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Seattle's L.J. Collier blew up the left side of the Patriots' offensive line, however, making his only tackle of the game at its most important juncture and helping the Seahawks improve to 2-0.

From @ESPNStatsInfo: In his career, Cam Newton was 16-of-20 (80%) scoring on rushes from the 1-yard line before getting stuffed on the final play. That included 2 rushing TD earlier in the game vs the Seahawks.

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 21, 2020

In addition to Edelman, Harry had career highs in both catches (eight) and yards (72), the second week in a row he's topped both numbers. Damiere Byrd added six catches for 72 yards a week after failing to catch a single pass in his New England debut.

The Patriots were without running back James White in the game after he tragically lost his father earlier Sunday in a traffic accident.

New England returns home next week, where it welcomes the Las Vegas Raiders to Gillette Stadium at 1 p.m. on Sunday.