MDH

Oh stfu...I have a son and agree with him completely. How about looking at the content of his post instead of the "I don't have a child" part.

I would never tell anybody what is great and what isn't. You'll never hear me claiming, "such and such is the greatest film ever." No matter how much I know about the subject, I'll never feel I know enough to make such an arrogant statement. I'm not speaking about the greatness of LOTR, I'm speaking purely of the ability of people to make a valid argument. In the end everything is subjective, you are correct. However, if you have no knowledge of a subject in question your opinion means holds no weight. Its the equivalent of somebody not following politics and saying they think Bush is the worst president that ever and knowing very little about previous presidents and their policies. Sure, you're welcome to your opinion, but without some sort of foundation of knowledge that opinion isn't worth much. As for Visconte's "supposed" great works, this speaks precisely to what I was talking about earlier. If someone watches mostly Hollywood films and gets accustomed to a very specific type of filmmaking and then is thrown something like Visconte, of course they're not going to like it. That being said, there are plenty of people with backgrounds in film that also dislike Visconte’s films. The liking or disliking of his films isn't what's important, it’s the ability to make a coherent and intelligent argument about the films...and not just in a literary sense (which is how just about all people, and critics, judge films...because that's the background they have, literature). As I said before, at its foundation my problem is one of semantics. There is a big difference between saying “favorite” and “greatest”…one had better know what they’re speaking about if they start throwing around the latter because it’s the type of statement that can, and should, be challenged. The ironic thing is that the more one knows about a subject, the less likely they are to throw around those types of statements because they understand how little they really know. I also find it humorous that you have such a distain for the academic community. It’s a pure defense mechanism; you must feel this way to justify your position. Think of it a different way. What if I started throwing around statements about somebody else’s area of expertise, say, Bio Chemistry? Would my opinions on the subject (something I know zero about) be just as valid as a Bio Chemists? I mean, all that academic stuff is pure hogwash!

I don't want to rip into posters who love these movies (I own them and enjoy the hell out of them as well) but I keep seeing things like this thrown around; "Best work of art ever", "best films ever", "will never be equaled.” So a question: how much about film, its theories and its history (both domestic and international) do you know? Have you seen the films of Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Renoir, Ozu, Tati, Bresson and a plethora of others I can't possibly list here? Having seen those films are you really equipped with the knowledge to understand what those filmmakers were doing and how they went about doing it? Film is a language, and like any language the more one learns about it the more one is able to understand its subtleties and complexities. Most of the people throwing around this praise I'd assume have a very limited understanding of film. I’d assume most here have a pretty high reading level, so this might be a pretty good analogy: Dr. Seuss wrote some great books, for what they were. But once one progressed in their understanding of the English language these books weren't enough to satiate your appetite for something more. Someone without a background in film saying the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is the "best piece of art work ever" is like someone with a 2nd grade reading level calling "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" the greatest piece of literature ever written. It is a good book, hell it might be the one I enjoy reading to my son the most (well, that or “The Sneetches”)…but simply enjoying it and it being “the greatest piece of literature ever” are two different things. I'm sure I'll get some angry replies to this as most people don't appreciate being told they don't know something (and it tends to piss them off). That's okay, let'er rip! Anyway, it’s a game of semantics I suppose. I have no problem with someone calling the films their “favorite of all time” or something of the like, but if you start throwing around praise as the “greatest film of all time” you had better be able to back it up with a comprehensive knowledge of film. Yes, this is a pet peeve of mine.

I'll always pull for the AFC, no matter what.

It's official: You know very little about the game of football.

Heh, that's exactly what I said.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...5156100667&rd=1 And there are like 5 more on there of various sizes.

Come on AKC, surely you're not trying to say that there weren't lots of people who were calling for TDs head after this team got off to a poor start? The guy doesn't have to offer any links, anybody that reads this board knows it to be true. Now, whether that is representative of "half the Bills fans" is open to discussion...but the TD appeared to be pretty close to being run out of town before the turnaround.

Any any OC they bring is won't be changing the scheme, it would serve no purpose. What will change is the play calling, which might alter the effectiveness of the O...but let's be honest, its the Patriot D that is to be feared, not the O...and that D scheme is all Belichick, not Romeo.

I hate Theismann & Maguire as well...but Mike Patrick is the best play by play guy this side of Al Michaels.

This is exactly what everybody was saying after Buffalo smacked the Pats in week one last season. That the Milloy thing would snowball...yet the team used that loss as the catalyst for the rest of the season with Belichick's "did Milloy look like he wasn't having a good time on the other sideline" speach...Belichick isn't Mr. Personable, but you don't have to be when you're a winner, players automatically buy into anything you tell 'em...they also are willing to forgo the coach they "like" for that championship ring. You might be right that this is Belichick's weakness, but I don't see it playing that big a role in how things pan out. Imo, it all comes down to Manning. Does he have another sub par game against the Pats or does he play like the Hall of Fame bound QB he is...if its the former, the Pats are on their way to the SB again.

Yeah, he played for free because he didn't care about the money...

This simply is not true. When AW and NC lined up on the same field together, they threw at Nate more often than not. I've never been a big fan of Clements, he was absolutely horrible last year...but I'll give him this, he was very very good this year. He became the type of player the Bills had always hoped....but don't act like he was that player in previous seasons, he wasn't.

Winfield is a piece of sh--, but he loves a guy that goes into a crowd and starts throwing punches...

While I'd like to see the Colts win the SB I just don't see it happening. The entire thing is on Manning's shoulder's...one game where he's not great and they're done. The same can't be said of Brady, he can be average, even below average and the Pats can still win. Same thing with Pitt. NE at Pitt in the AFC Championship, Pats win. Pats over Eagles in the SB.

If you think Brady "dink/dunks” then you haven't watched them play in 3 years. That offense is efficient but it also takes shots down the field. People are just crossing their fingers if they think the Colts are going to the SB. This isn't a knock on Manning, it’s just the way the team has been put together. ALL the pressure is on Manning, if he has one bad game in the playoffs, they can't win, pure and simple. No other player in the league has the type of pressure on him that Manning does. Now, what are the odds Manning has 3 good/great games back to back to back against top quality competition to get into the SB? Not good, just like every year come playoff time. I love Manning, but I hate the way that team has been put together. They are bound for playoff failure year in and year out. For all you Pats fans that like to bash on Manning, Brady doesn't have half the pressure to perform that Manning does, when he has an off day in the playoffs (which is about half the time) they Pats can still win.

Every QB has dropped balls. If you go back and refigure all the QB ratings in the league and take away many of their dropped balls I'd guess than an 87 rating wouldn't be that "great".

Sure other teams benefit from it, but not nearly as much as the Bills did this year. Considering the #2 team in this stat had 1/3 less drives start in opponent’s territory than the Bills did, I can only imagine what the league average was. People like to point to WM being the catalyst that pushed the O over the hump, and I'll agree he was a part of it (as was Evans). But the biggest contributor was the D starting causing turnovers. Once that happened, low and behold the O starting putting up points. On the flip side of this coin also holds true. The D should also be blamed for some of the offense’s problems last year, as they only caused a league low 18 takeaways. It’s tough to drive the length of the field and score with any consistency. Bottom line is it’s a team game and you can’t tell how effective an O is just by looking at points scored, there are other factors that contribute to it. The most effective way of making this determination can’t be found in a stat sheet. One has to watch the games. I can say that this year the Bills offense was better than last years and it wasn’t just the turnovers….but without leading the league in turnovers this O doesn’t even look average. I saw many of the same problems this year that I did last year, and unfortunately, many of them are from one position, QB.

During the Pittsburgh game the announcers gave an interesting stat. The Bills offense had a lead leading number of drives start in opponents territory, 40. The next highest in the league was 26. The Bills special teams and D should get the majority of the credit for the O finally putting points on the board. That being said, you do have to give the O (and Bledsoe) credit for putting the ball in the endzone instead of always settling for 3. The QB play this year was better than last year, but that’s not saying much. I agree with TD though, you don’t play a player until he’s the best at the position on the team. So until Losman can earn the spot, it’s Bledsoe’s to lose.

You do realize or course, that 911 isn't the number to report parking violations? I think the emergency responders on the other end of the line have better things to do than report parking problems...

Well, I'd argue that he's never been a very good QB, just a guy that put up stats...but you're right, it's been about 7-8 or so years since he was putting up those big numbers.

I'd say you need to open your eyes and start watching the games and stop looking at the stat sheet. You can put up stats all you want, but the Drew we have on this team is not the same Drew NE had 5 years ago. Bledsoe, when he's been effective for us, has been a simple game manager at QB...nothing special but a guy that doesn't lose the game for you and makes some plays here and there. Unfortunately he is not an effective QB overall because he makes WAY too many mistakes...which isn't something you want from a game manager at the QB position. A QB that puts up big numbers and moves the offense and helps generate lots of points can afford some INTs or fumbles here and there...Drew Bledsoe gives you all the negatives of a gambler type QB but none of the positives. What we need in this offense is a guy that doesn't make mistakes. You can find a Trent Dilfer caretaker QB out here on the market relatively cheaply; you don't need to spend 6m+ on Drew Bledsoe's name.

And how the hell do you know how good each of those teams will be next year? Oh wait, I forgot, every year is the same so if a team sucks this year they'll suck next year...

No, those other teams lost to the Steelers starters. We're the only team this year that lost to their JV squad.

This just in: Bledsoe was seen walking to his car after the game and he was still holding the ball.