E-Mail This Article to a Friend The Turning Point? By Christopher Young

Last week New Englanders survived the "Lost Weekend." This weekend could be a reprise — or not. Regardless, it’s a critical one. What happens this weekend will go a long way toward sorting out our perceptions of the area’s teams, and, more importantly, how others will perceive them. And though one team is starting its season while the other is winding its down, the results will have significant short- and long-term implications for both.

First, the Red Sox. We ardently believed that the local nine would be able to ward off the evil-doers from Gotham and maintain their AL East division lead, but the wheels came off in St. Pete and the Steinbrenner Express kept rolling along (while the Orioles continued their mighty el foldo by feebly dropping four straight in the Bronx). Now the East is the Yankees’ to lose, and the Red Sox’ to regain. The Sox hit Crab Town this weekend to meet a Baltimore team that has gone 21-41 since July 15, and more recently has lost seven of eight. Boston will avoid long-time nemesis Rodrigo Lopez in this series, and the Birds will be missing to injury three of their best hitters: Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, and Brian Roberts. On June 23, Baltimore led the division; now they’re 18 games back and architects of a meltdown of epic and mysterious proportions. Therefore, the O’s have little to play for this weekend, and worse, will again ignominiously find Camden Yards filled with Red Sox fans.

Now trailing by a game in the East, Boston probably needs to take all three games to keep pace with New York, which is hosting a 75-77 Toronto squad that’s also playing out the string. When the weekend’s over, New York will wrap up the regular season living out of luxury hotels in Baltimore and Boston, while the Sox host those pesky Jays for four before the Empire Staters hit the Hub.

Meanwhile, the Patriots meet another difficult and revved-up foe this weekend, this time in the Steel City. Do you remember the last time New England lost two straight? Well, one has to go back to December of 2002, when the Titans and Jets beat Belichick’s bunch back-to-back. Whew! — nearly two and a half seasons without dropping consecutive contests. What could be revealed this weekend is not whether the Patriots are still a good team, but whether they are returning to the flock as far as their overall superiority goes. For if they fall to the Steelers on Sunday, they will have a losing record for the first time since Lawyer Milloy & Co. pasted them, 31-0, to open the 2003 campaign, and will be viewed as vulnerable and, yes, beatable. A Steelers win would also give subsequent coaching staffs two consecutive game films to help decipher how to categorically beat the Patriots — evidentiary film only rumored to exist in the past few years. A blueprint to detonate the Death Star, if you will.

If the Patriots’ running game again is denied, upcoming foes like the Chargers, Falcons, and Broncos (indeed, a brutal schedule on the heels of an already-tough trio) will be shown all they need to know about shutting down Corey Dillon et al. And given that the Atlanta and Denver games are also on the road, a 1-2 Patriots team could be looking at a potentially devastating 2-4 record (or worse) when the Bills come to town in week eight, following the Pats’ bye week.

That’s why this game is so important to New England, and it has little to do with the actual AFC East standings. It’s how the defending champs will be perceived: as a team on the way down, a squad ripe for the picking if only you have the game-planning roadmap to take you to the orchard. Oakland gave the Patriots a surprising test in the season opener, and Carolina a week later exploited New England’s error-prone tendencies and its often-porous offensive line to give a solid whuppin’ to the team that nipped the Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. Pittsburgh enters Sunday’s game with a 2-0 record (albeit against perceived AFC weaklings Tennessee and Houston), having outscored those opponents by a whopping 61-14 tally. No question that Heinz Field and its inhabitants will be fired up at game time, with the local bath-towel-wavers eager to see their team make up for the 41-27 thrashing that the Patriots delivered in the AFC title game last January.

Finally: can Boston College win in the ACC? A dynamite test will unfold this weekend at Clemson, as the Eagles look to rebound from a disappointing home loss to Florida State. BC was expected to flourish in football in the ACC, but to prove its gridiron prowess it’ll need to start winning some tough games — and "Death Valley" is a good place to start. This game should show whether BC football is among the conference’s elite — or just a Johnny-come-lately.

Sporting Eye runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com, and Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com.