Some of us at CSC are known to occasionally put down our cafe au lait and beignets (that would be tea & crumpets to you of the New English persuasion), and have a brief bit o'bubbly banter about football statistics and to what extent our favorite team should use said statistics to prepare game plans, call plays, or hire coaches. So let's take a quick look at last night's game between the Saints and Falcons, shall we?

>Atlanta won the TOP battle by nearly 7 minutes,

>Atlanta ran off 12 more plays, 75 to 63,

>Atlanta gained more net yardage (but not by much),

>Atlanta won the Turnover battle, 2 interceptions to 1 fumble,

>Atlanta caused more sacks (1 vs none).

So what was the result of this statistical trouncing? The Saints beat the Falcons so bad that a tree-hugging Yahoo blogger from Stanford was whining about the Saints running up the score.

Moral of the story: If you're going to put down your Cafe au Lait and Beignets, it should only be because (a) you're done, or (b) you're emptying your hand to grab your favorite alcoholic refreshment.