After finishing last season with a Super Bowl appearance, the Patriots stumbled out of the gate… and now their star receiver is injured. So far in September, the Red Sox have continued their hot and cold season.
But New England sports fans can’t despair just yet. It’s still very early for this year’s Pats and they host the Steelers on Sunday. And the Red Sox surged in the second half of the season, with the playoffs now on the horizon.
So, can the Pats get on track? Can the Sox keep it going? Ocean State Media’s Scott Terrana hosts the local sports podcast, The Terrana Dome. He spoke with morning host Luis Hernandez about the New England sports landscape.
Interview highlights
The Patriots lost 13 to 10 to Seattle in the season opener. Should New England fans be concerned?
Scott Terrana: I wouldn't say panic, but certainly it's not great. You've got a fan base that's got high expectations after the last season. And you never want to see your quarterback throw the game away, especially right at the end there when you have a chance to tie it and go into overtime and you end up throwing a ball into the end zone and turning the ball over down the game. So fans aren't happy for sure.
The Patriots are hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend. What do they have to do to change things up?
Terrana: They've got to call plays more aggressively on the offensive end. They got to play faster. Getting running back TreVeyon Henderson back in the lineup will certainly help that. The run game looked slow last week, but overall they've got to try and push the ball a little bit more. Won't be easy to do without their number one receiver. I thought defensively they played pretty well against the Seahawks. I don't think that's going to be a problem against the Steelers team with 42-year-old Aaron Rogers and what I think is a relatively ordinary position group.
The Red Sox turned their season around after a poor start. How did they pull it off?
Terrana: Before June 25, they had 32 (wins) and 46 (losses). And after August 25, there were 73-59. It's a 28-game turnaround in 54 games. It's ridiculous. As far as how they turned it around, the philosophy changed. The way that they decided to approach the game changed. They went away from the launch angle and trying to pull the ball in the air for homeruns. That's not the style of lineup that they have. They went back to playing small ball, went back to playing to get the runner over, drop down a bunt, less strikeouts, put the ball in play. I know it sounds simple and it sounds almost crazy to say, but it's just that the teams in modern baseball don't put the ball in play enough. There's too much strikeout.
In these final weeks of the season, what are you expecting?
Terrana: Well, I feel pretty good overall about the team. They're treading water a little bit. (In recent games, they’ve lost five out of seven) so they're just staying afloat. The main thing here is health. Just have all your ducks in a row and be ready to go because you're going to be going into New York, into the hornets’ nest. (The Yankees) have three great starting pitchers lined up for that series, plus Aaron Judge is back. And while Judge may not be the most clutch postseason player of all time, he's still one of the most feared hitters in all of baseball and you're going into their territory. And that didn't work out so well for this team last year. I'm excited for them to be in the postseason. It's going to be an uphill battle.
