HR 1 | Where is the Arrow Pointing for the Red Sox Following the 2026 Season? | Dan Bahl Show | 10/3/26

The team that was supposed to bring us the most joy, the most excitement, the biggest reason to, the reason to cheer, I think, was the Patriots.

And it was a tumultuous off-season, thanks, uh, in large part to the, the actions of the head coach and the reporting around the head coach.

But it seemed as though after, you know, after that whole debacle was put behind us, and we got all the reporting, and, you know, Diana Russini is let go, and Vrabel has to address it, and the players come out and address it.

And l- you know, largely not only sing the praises, I'll never for- uh, I'll, I'll, I'll always remember that ESPN piece.

Meggo and I were working together on a, on a weekend show when that ESPN deep dive into the, the Vrabel-Russini thing came out.

It was right before, right before kickoff to start the season, which was ironic timing in and of itself.

And, uh, the lines that came out to me, they had anonymous players that were speaking, were basically saying like, "Yeah, w- whatever, whatever this guy, whatever this guy does away from the facility is his business." And there was even one quote that was saying, and I'm paraphrasing it, that, "Oh, this, this makes him more like, uh, this makes him more likable.

This makes him more relatable.

It makes it easier for him just to be a guy's guy." I'm like, first of all, not sure I would wa- wa- be wanting to say that kind of perspective into a microphone.

But all that aside, it seemed as though, blip on the radar aside, once you got into training camp, you started to see the, the, the Drake May and A.J. Brown connection come together.

You started to see the kind of the, the ones running together with Brown and Dobbs and Demario Douglas, and, uh, y- you saw Christian Gonzalez even, uh, you know, on the field more during training camp than you thought you would, given the contract negotiation, and then he ends up signing the deal.

It was supposed to be, you know, full steam ahead.

It was supposed to be a, a showing that, yes, we got our ass kicked in the Super Bowl, and may or may not have played an AFC Championship game that we would have lost if there was a real quarterback playing quarterback or, you know, n- non, non-torrential snowstorms going on.

It, it was supposed to be a statement of how far we've come in an off-season's time, and it was really supposed to be the first real year where you felt like you had something sustainable.

'Cause last year was just this Cinderella story, this team that wasn't supposed to be where they were, and I think those true colors kind of came out a- as the playoffs went along.

But this year was supposed to be that spot in a normal rebuild.

It ended up being a, a non-linear progression for the rebuild.

But in a normal rebuild, this was supposed to be the year where you go, "Here are our foundational pieces.

We have our coach, we have our quarterback, we have our cornerback, we have our wide receiver one, uh, we have a great internal presence on the defensive line, or interior presence on the defensive line, and now we go." And it has been anything but, and now within a month's time, we're questioning the legitimacy of the quarterback, and we're tr- we're questioning the relationship between the coach and the quarterback already.

So that is a calamity.

The Red Sox have gone 365 days just to fire seven coaches and end their season one game earlier than they did, and in far more embarrassing fashion than they did a year ago.

And yet the, uh, architects of that are now under contract for the long term.

So not only was it worse, it's also not changing.

So that's the Patriots, that's the Red Sox.

The Bruins, God knows, your guess is as good as, uh, as mine.

The team that was supposed to bring us the most joy, the most excitement, the biggest reason to, the reason to cheer, I think, was the Patriots.

And it was a tumultuous off-season, thanks, uh, in large part to the, the actions of the head coach and the reporting around the head coach.

But it seemed as though after, you know, after that whole debacle was put behind us, and we got all the reporting, and, you know, Diana Russini is let go, and Vrabel has to address it, and the players come out and address it.

And l- you know, largely not only sing the praises, I'll never for- uh, I'll, I'll, I'll always remember that ESPN piece.

Meggo and I were working together on a, on a weekend show when that ESPN deep dive into the, the Vrabel-Russini thing came out.

It was right before, right before kickoff to start the season, which was ironic timing in and of itself.

And, uh, the lines that came out to me, they had anonymous players that were speaking, were basically saying like, "Yeah, w- whatever, whatever this guy, whatever this guy does away from the facility is his business." And there was even one quote that was saying, and I'm paraphrasing it, that, "Oh, this, this makes him more like, uh, this makes him more likable.

This makes him more relatable.

It makes it easier for him just to be a guy's guy." I'm like, first of all, not sure I would wa- wa- be wanting to say that kind of perspective into a microphone.

But all that aside, it seemed as though, blip on the radar aside, once you got into training camp, you started to see the, the, the Drake May and A.J. Brown connection come together.

You started to see the kind of the, the ones running together with Brown and Dobbs and Demario Douglas, and, uh, y- you saw Christian Gonzalez even, uh, you know, on the field more during training camp than you thought you would, given the contract negotiation, and then he ends up signing the deal.

It was supposed to be, you know, full steam ahead.

It was supposed to be a, a showing that, yes, we got our ass kicked in the Super Bowl, and may or may not have played an AFC Championship game that we would have lost if there was a real quarterback playing quarterback or, you know, n- non, non-torrential snowstorms going on.

It, it was supposed to be a statement of how far we've come in an off-season's time, and it was really supposed to be the first real year where you felt like you had something sustainable.

'Cause last year was just this Cinderella story, this team that wasn't supposed to be where they were, and I think those true colors kind of came out a- as the playoffs went along.

But this year was supposed to be that spot in a normal rebuild.

It ended up being a, a non-linear progression for the rebuild.

But in a normal rebuild, this was supposed to be the year where you go, "Here are our foundational pieces.

We have our coach, we have our quarterback, we have our cornerback, we have our wide receiver one, uh, we have a great internal presence on the defensive line, or interior presence on the defensive line, and now we go." And it has been anything but, and now within a month's time, we're questioning the legitimacy of the quarterback, and we're tr- we're questioning the relationship between the coach and the quarterback already.

So that is a calamity.

The Red Sox have gone 365 days just to fire seven coaches and end their season one game earlier than they did, and in far more embarrassing fashion than they did a year ago.

And yet the, uh, architects of that are now under contract for the long term.

So not only was it worse, it's also not changing.

So that's the Patriots, that's the Red Sox.

The Bruins, God knows, your guess is as good as, uh, as mine.