METAIRIE ― Will Smith had plans for his off day Tuesday.

But the NFL had other plans.

Associated Press

Deuce McAllister in London.

Smith, Deuce McAllister and Charles Grant all went to New York to plead their cases in regard to running into the league’s banned substance policy.

By Thursday, their thoughts already had moved away from what McAllister called “a marathon” meeting and onto the Saints’ next game against Green Bay.

“I was looking to be relaxing with my family, but I had to go up there and take care of that because it deals with my job,” Smith said. “It’s something I had to do. It’s very important to me, Deuce and Charles.”

McAllister was thinking only positive thoughts following the team’s first practice since defeating Kansas City 30-20 this past Sunday.

He knows he and his lawyer pled his case the best they could and that it’s up to the league to make a decision. Should the NFL come down against New Orleans’ three, they all would face suspensions of four games.

He won’t even think about having possibly two games left to play this season – Monday night against the Packers and the regular season finale against Carolina.

“I’m not even going to go there,” McAllister said. “So I won’t even entertain the question nor the thought as far as getting into that area. I’ve got one game I know I’ve got to perform and play for, and that’s the Green Bay Packers.”

Still, McAllister isn’t letting negative thoughts enters his mind about a possible suspension. He hasn’t and he won’t.

“I was optimistic even before the process because I know the steps that were taken,” he said. “So I don’t think it was recklessness or anything.”

Grant could serve out his suspension while on injured reserve as he rehabs from a torn triceps.

Smith said no steroids were found in any of the players’ urine samples. What’s getting the three caught up is that the diuretic they all took – StarCaps – can be used as a masking agent.

In Tuesday’s meeting with league officials, Smith said they all wanted to make the point that there were no steroids in their samples.

“We didn’t have a diluted urine,” Smith said, “which in all cases it’s usually when you have a dilute and you have steroids, you’re trying to mask something and we weren’t trying to mask anything.”

The specific situation is something other players are keeping a close eye on right now. Quarterback Drew Brees said he can see how a mix-up could have happened.

“It’s tough because in the end, do you really know 100 percent? No,” Brees said. “I can go to a restaurant and say, ‘Hey, no butter, no this, no salt, no pepper.’ And they could slip it in somehow, someway and I’d never know until I got home and my stomach started hurting.”

Brees and his teammates are just ready for all the questions to end and that the New Orleans three can move on.

“We don’t want the distraction,” Brees said. “We just wish it would go away. Hopefully the truth will come out.”

But that won’t happen until the league comes out with its ruling.

McAllister, at least, is confident in how he has handled the situation.

“I felt confidence even before because I knew a lot of the information that had transpired up until that point,” McAllister said. “And even with the meeting, we feel pretty good about it. But just feeling good about it, that’s not going to give us a positive verdict.

“We’ll wait and see what happens, but we feel good about the situation.”