New Orleans Saints are sending a message to guard Carl Nicks
 

The New Orleans Saints are obviously trying to regain their edge as the regular season approaches.

Michael DeMocker/The Times-Picayune
New Orleans Saints guard Carl Nicks has apparently been demoted.
The coaching staff has instituted a series of disciplinary measures in practice, including running laps for pre-snap infractions or dropped passes.
And on Wednesday they made their first demotion, sending standout left guard Carl Nicks to the second team and promoting Terrence Metcalf to the starting unit.
"It has to be one of two reasons, (either) they feel I'm not good enough any more or they feel the guy behind me is better," said an obviously miffed Nicks afterward. "You've got to ask coach about that."
The Saints appear to be using Nicks as an example in their effort to emphasize an intolerance for mental mistakes. The third-year guard is considered one of the best young linemen in the league so he's a curious pick for discipline.

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Payton isn't messing around. The O line was terrible against the Pats and the defense has been all over the O line at practice. My guess is Payton feels like something needs to be done. We had so many infractions and holding calls in the first preseason game that it really had an impact on the game. It's hard to game plan around sloppiness.