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Here's the actual dollar amounts on what four game suspensions will cost three Saints.

Deuce McAllister will forfeit $471,000 in base pay. This is 4/17th's of Deuce's 2 million dollar base pay. Deuce will also forfeit rosters bonuses of about $162,000 dollars. As part of his reworked deal in April of '08, Deuce agreed to a roster bonus of $40,625 per game.

Will Smith will forfeit $165,000 in base pay. But, because of his four game suspension for violation of league policy, Smith will forfeit salary enhancements of : $1.070 million in 2009, and $930,000 in 2010.

Charles Grant will forfeit $176,000 in base pay. In question this season are two bonuses that the Saints could try and retrieve. They are a $100,000 workout bonus and an $814,000 roster bonus.

Well, what do you know? Saints head coach Sean Payton said his team would run the more, and he was true to his word. The Saints ran 30 times for a season high 184 yards. Drew Brees threw 32 passes.

It was the Saints most complete the game of the season. The defense bent, but did not break. Pierre Thomas scored on a 7 yard reception and 5 yard run, both in the 4th quarter. Thomas was terrific. He is a decisive North South runner.

Saints guard Carl Nicks had a great day opening holes for the run game.

The Falcons lost the game, but quarterback Matt Ryan is definitely a franchise quarterback.

One of the things Sean Payton needs to clean up is: his challenges. Payton challenged a touchdown pass by Ryan to Brian Finneran in the second quarter. Finneran clearly had two feet in bounds, and possession of the ball. So, with 2:13 to play, the Saints were out of challenges and out of first half timeouts. Not having a time was costly. With 12 seconds to play in the first half, Drew Brees threw 18 yards to Devery Henderson down to the Atlanta 7. The Saints were forced to hurry to the line and spike the football. Garrett Hartley then came on to kick a field goal.

The Pittsburgh Steelers did the Saints a huge favor. The Steelers beat Dallas 20-13 by scoring 17 fourth quarter points. The loss puts Dallas in a tie with Atlanta with records of 8-5. The loser of Monday night's Tampa Bay at Carolina game will be 9-4, and thus own the 5th wild card spot.

For the first time all season, to me, the Hornets looked like the team that was so dominate late last season, and during the early games in the playoffs.

I think the San Antonio Spurs had something to do with that.

The Hornets outscored the Spurs 18-4 to end Wednesday night's 90-83 New Orleans win. The Hornets went from 7 down to 7 up.

The Hornets clamped down on the defensive end. A Hornets staffer said the best hustle play all season came during that stretch. Rasual Butler ran the length of the floor on a Hornets fast break to tip in a missed James Posey layup.

The energy in the building was palpable. The fans booed Tony Parker every team he got the ball. When Tim Duncan argued for a foul call that never came, fans yelled at him and accused him of being a crybaby.

It was funny stuff. I told co-anchor Michael Hill on our 6 pm show that night that a little "contempt" was a good thing. Contempt and lots of respect sum up Hornets vs Spurs.

It was fun to watch. Even more so, when the Hornets played their best basketball of the season in the final six minutes.

The Spurs had something to do with that.

If you are a Saints fan, I hope you were watching Sunday night's Giants 34-28 win over the Panthers in overtime.

The game was a display of just how physically superior New York and Carolina are compared to the rest of the NFC (except for maybe Atlanta).

Carolina's DeAngelo Williams ran for 4 touchdowns. The Panthers led 21-10 in the second quarter. But, the Super Bowl champion Giants would go away. New York clamped down on defense and stayed with the running attack. New York rushed for 301 yards, 215 by Derrick Ward.

Brandon Jacobs scored on a 2 yard run on the Giants' second possession in overtime.

Panthers vs Giants was one of the best NFL games I have watched in the past 5 years. It was also a road map on how to win the games that count the most.

Saints fans consider this: The top 5 teams in the rushing yards this season have won 52 of 75 games played. That is a .700 win percentage in a league that prides itself on parity.

Let me just say right off the top that I believe Dave Dickerson is a good basketball coach. But, he is up against an impossible situation.

He can't get the players he wants in school. And, he plays in one of the worst gyms, not arena, gyms, in college basketball.

It is time for a sea change in Tulane basketball. Time for school president Scott Cowen to relax admission standards to allow Dickerson to get talent in school, and give them a curriculum to graduate. Think this is heresy? Check out how many Duke basketball players have graduated in Sociology. Nothing wrong with that.

It also time for Tulane to change its schedule and go downtown to the Arena to play games. Fogelman is joke. You simply cannot recruit there. Don't tell me that Perry Clark won there. He did, but in a different time. New arenas are everywhere. Instead Tulane plays in a relic that was the best in the SEC, in 1948.

Time for Dickerson to upgrade his schedule, and go downtown.

Don't tell that students won't go. They will. And, if they don't so what. Tulane needs to recapture the New Orleans sports fan that isn't a Tulane graduate, but identifies with the school because of New Orleans. That person is out there.

But, he or she wasn't in the stands Saturday for a 74-73 loss to Binghampton.

Time for Scott Cowen and Rick Dickson to give their men's basketball coach the tools to be successful.

Gotta give it to Ed Orgeron. He certainly knows out to drive up the price. Good for him. Last January, the Dallas Cowboys and the Saints were pursuing Orgeron as defensive line coach. Saints coach Sean Payton went to general manager Mickey Loomis to get some extra cash, and to Loomis' credit, got it.

Coach O was on board at $500,000 per year. That lasted all of one year.

For weeks, Orgeron was rumored to be joining Lane Kiffin's staff at Tennessee. But, along came the LSU rumors. Orgeron did little to dismiss them.

How big a loss is this for LSU? It is really hard to say. Orgeron was brought in large part get a pair of high priced defensive ends, Will Smith and Charles Grant to live up to their paychecks. That didn't happen. Grant was injured and Smith was also, although his injury was not known until after the season.

Orgeron can recruit. The team that Houston Nutt takes to the Cotton Bowl is one that has lots of good athletes, and a quarterback, Jevan Snead, that Coach O convinced to transfer to Ole Miss.

Orgeron can also negotiate. Fired at Ole Miss 13 months ago, Ed Orgeron has now been hotly pursued for 2 off seasons.

Coach O is headed to orange country, with lots of green.

It is halftime of the Chick Fil-A bowl. I have just watched Jordan Jefferson complete 11 of 12 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown. He has also rushed 6 times for 30 yards.

As I watch this first half performance result in a 35-3 LSU lead, I have one question? Why wasn't Jefferson playing earlier? As I watch Jefferson avoid the blitz and calmly run for a first down, I ask that question again: Why?

You can make an argument for Jarrett Lee all the way to Georgia game. But, after that, with Tulane on the schedule November 1st, Les Miles and offensive coordinator Gary Crowtown boo booed. Jefferson should have started. Should have played the entire game.

I think back to a week later, November 8th at home against Alabama. Even though Lee through 3 interceptions in regulation, LSU forced Alabama to overtime. What would a running quarterback , who doesn't turn the ball over, done to the Alabama defense?

We will never know for sure. But, here's my take: if Jefferson is your quarterback, Nick Saban might be playing this week in the Capital One Bowl, not in New Orleans.