Seattle Seahawks have started the new NFL campaign by beating the Green Bay Packers 36-16 at CenturyLink Field.
Last season's Super Bowl winners opened the scoring early on thanks to a field goal from Steven Hauschka, but were soon behind as Green Bay claimed the lead when John Kuhn powered over the line from two yards.
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Russell Wilson was made to wait until the early stages of the second quarter to weave his magic as the Seattle quarterback spotted the run of Ricardo Lockette, who handed the hosts a 10-7 advantage.
Mason Crosby stepped up midway through the quarter to level the scores with a field goal, but Marshawn Lynch capitalised on a number of errors from Green Bay three minutes later to cruise over for his first touchdown of the season.
Green Bay struggled to gain any kind of momentum either side of the half-time interval, and found themselves further behind when Hauschka converted a field goal to make it 20-10.
Michael Bennett sacked Aaron Rodgers with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, which resulted in Derek Sherrod being forced to gift the two-point safety to the Seahawks.
Seattle earned even more breathing space with the first play of the final quarter when Lynch used a gap created by James Carpenter to claim his second touchdown of the night.
Rodgers was finally able to enjoy some success when he picked out Randall Cobb in the endzone, but any hopes of an unlikely comeback were dismissed as the attempted two-point conversion ended in failure.
Seattle managed to finish the game off in style as Wilson earned space by turning towards Lynch, before throwing to Derrick Coleman, who cruised over to complete an emphatic win for the hosts.
Callum Mulvihill
