New Orleans Saints receiver Marques Colston confirmed that he was just getting some veteran rest when he sat out of the team’s second preseason game two weeks ago -- part of a plan that has been ongoing this entire offseason to limit the 31-year-old’s workload.
“That’s just something that Sean [Payton] decided to do,” Colston said. “We had kind of spoken about it all preseason, and really this is the first time where he kind of sat me down. So it was just really rest.”
Colston has talked all offseason about how much healthier he feels this year compared to the last year or two, when he has been plagued by a nagging foot injury.
“I’m feeling really good going into the season,” Colston said. “I have two more weeks to try and get better and continue to manage my body. But by all means, it’s a totally different ballgame than last year.”
Colston certainly looked fresh in last Saturday night’s preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts. He made two big-time catches – a 13-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone and a 12-yard catch on a third-and-8.
And he was targeted a total of six times by quarterback Drew Brees during the first quarter (two catches, two incomplete passes, one offensive pass interference penalty and one defensive pass interference penalty).
Obviously it didn’t take long for those two longtime teammates to find their familiar rhythm while Brees was making his own preseason debut. Brees had been sidelined by a strained oblique during the first two exhibition games.
“The old trusty guys,” Brees said when asked about finding that rhythm with Colston and longtime running back Pierre Thomas during two first-quarter scoring drives. “Some of those guys, we’ve had so much time together. I was thinking about it today. You take each of ‘em. You take Marques, Pierre Thomas, Zach Strief, Jahri Evans, Jonathan Goodwin, even though he left and came back. All of us have been together for eight-plus years now. That’s pretty rare, but certainly that pays off. We have that trust and confidence in one another.”