Like I said-as much as I HATED the signing 2 years ago, as you all know, I've been a LONG time defender of him.
I'm off the TO bandwagon now.
And yes, these kinds of distractions will hurt teams. When I was living in New Orleans in '01, the Saints were in a similar situation. One minute they went on a 3 game win streak to be 7-5 AND control their own destiny for the final NFC WC, then the next minute they imploded by getting their tails kicked in their final 4 games.
What came out during this time was alot locker room mud...Joe Horn turning teammates against their Pro Bowl LT(Willie Roaf) b/c his wife was a stripper. Ricky Williams alieniating his teammates. Jeff Blake becoming more unhappier b/c he felt like Jim Haslett lied to him and didn't give a fair QB competition in camp.
That was too bad b/c this Saints team was a very talented team(they even ended the Rams' unbeaten streak at midseason), and could have done alot of damage in the playoffs.
I remember that final game against the Niners-by the 2nd half rolled around, the players just quit, and by the time the 4th rolled around, Haslett inserted Blake in for the 1st time, and he(and Ricky Williams) preceded to act out their season-long frustrations by doing nothing. The entire Superdome was booing their tails off.