SaintsBro

I vividly remember the days, when guys with bad reputations, would come to the Saints and be reborn as ANGELS off the field, and redeem themselves as men.

Guys like Carl Nicks, Jeremy Shockey, or guys like Vilma with his high rolling card games....they'd come to New Orleans with a reputation, the bad reputation would EVAPORATE once they got here, and Sean Payton would remake them as leaders.

But lo and behold, these guys would come to the Saints, you wouldn't hear a PEEP from them, and they'd keep it together during the regular season and stay OUT OF THE HEADLINES. If Carl Nicks was an off-field discipline problem at Nebraska, you SURE never heard about him being one while he was here with the Saints....

How many of you remember the pictures of Shockey in Vegas, so drunk he could barely stand up...I'll say it again: if somebody cut up or acted out, it was all very mild, and if they did anything stupid, it was during the extreme off off OFF season.

There was even one time where Drew maybe had a few too many, and led a crazy "Who Dat" chant on top of the pool table at Lucy's Retired Surfer Bar, remember that one? Again, that was mild, and it was AFTER THE SEASON was LONG over with. NOT THE WEEK BEFORE THE SEASON STARTS.

Last year there were tons of reports of Saints guys partying at Republic, lots of gossip and rumors about certain guys on the team being out late, seen at strip clubs, posting stupid stuff on Twitter, throwing money around in the balcony VIP section, like something out of HBO's "Ballers." Some of those guys are no longer with the team. Some are still here. There was also the same types of rumors around in 2012 when Spags was here, if I remember correctly.

It's hard for me to put my finger on it. I think something is either different about the moral caliber of the guys that are coming on this team now, recently in the last couple of years, or else something is different about Sean Payton's ability to enforce rules and hammer home a code of conduct and personal responsibility, in order to redeem these guys.

Bottom line? This team is a dumpster fire of distractions right now. And it's starting to look like Payton is maybe not in control of any of it.