By Chris Ryan
Sunday's New England Patriots game in San Francisco against the high-powered 49ers feels like a crossroads type game that could determine the road the 2024 season goes down.
A victory or pushing the Niners (1-2) to the edge will lead the Patriots (1-2) down the path to being a competitive team. A loss and the road may turn down a one way street to never ending discussions about draft positioning and strengthening the roster in the offseason.
"We're excited to get out there and play some competitive ball," said Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo.
The assumption is that San Francisco will prevail in this game, and for good reason, my basic premise on how the NFL works is simple: The team that needs to win more, usually will.
The 49ers are a perennial Super Bowl contender coming off two humbling losses. They have more talent, more experience and seemingly more motivation to turn their season around given their internal and external expectations.
San Francisco boosts a seemingly unstoppable offense (when healthy) that perfectly weaves scheme, timing and superior talent. That offense has been slowed more by key injuries the last two weeks than the opposition. Star running back Christian McCaffery remains sidelined, but quarterback Brock Purdy, tight end George Kittle and wide receiver Deebo Samuel are all expected to play.
The Patriots defense believes it's one of the best in the league, despite being ranked 19th overall in total defense. So do they look at this as an opportunity to prove it against the 3rd overall offense?
"You could definitely say that," said Patriots safety (and newly minted captain) Kyle Dugger. "We just want to win. But, they have a very high level offense, so we definitely take it as a challenge."
For the third straight year and fifth out of the last six seasons, the Red Sox aren't going to the postseason
I've been trying to determine how I feel about this Red Sox season. I expected them to finish in last place, honestly. Instead they enter their final homestand in third place against the Rays with a record of 80-79.
So, they'll exceed my expectations, but there in lies the problem.
This is one of Major League Baseball's signature franchises. They have won four world series in the last twenty years, but the failures of this franchise to retain talent and have sustained competitiveness have lowered the bar to the point where a .500 season surpasses expectations.
After the Red Sox didn't make the playoffs in 2019, they fired one of the best executives in baseball, Dave Dombrowski.
The rationale was in part, that there were too many peaks and valleys and that for every 2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018 there was 2006, 2009, 2014 and 2015.
Now, fans get just valleys.
BC's O'Brien: 'Shame on us if there's a letdown'
Boston College (3-1) scored a remarkable, emotional victory over Michigan State 23-19 thanks to a late touchdown.
Next up is Western Kentucky comes to Chestnut Hill Saturday at noon. They are also 3-1, but doesn't exactly play in the ACC, and lost 63-0 to Alabama in the season opener.
Classic letdown type game, right?
"If there's a letdown, then shame on us," said Boston College head coach Bill O'Brien. "Absolute shame on us, if there's a letdown. Absolute shame on Boston College football. We need to show up and be ready to play."
The Press Pass column drops Fridays and the show airs on iHeart NH Saturday and Sunday at 11a. Chris also covers the Patriots for WBZ-Boston's News Radio and host's New Hampshire Today weekdays from 6-9a on iHeart NH.