The San Diego Chargers have a former MVP (LaDanian Tomlinson) and a guy that deserves strong consideration this year (Philip Rivers). Assuming of course, that San Diego can manage to get above .500 on the season.
But part of the problem with having such a bad record has been getting torched by opposing quarterbacks, much like today, when Drew Brees -- also an MVP candidate -- shredded the Chargers in London to the tune of 30/41 for 339 yards and three touchdowns.
Clearly, the biggest story was the matchup of Rivers and Brees, based solely on Brees leaving San Diego for New Orleans following the Chargers decision to let the NCSU alum actually take over the mantle of "future of the franchise". Brees won the follow up battle on both counts, with the better stats and, more importantly, the win.
The sidenote to this game is that LaDanian Tomlinson actually is "back". It was weird hearing Phil Simms and Jim Nance discussing the possibility of LDT being "gone", but it's the truth. He's been relatively non-existent since the season started. And today, he finally produced some yardage -- 170 total to be exact -- and found the end zone for the first time on a passing play.
Obviously it wasn't enough, and the Chargers are in legitimate trouble re: this season, but the good news is that their offense is pretty stout right now. That doesn't do much for their inability to stop someone in the air, but it at least reminds me of the team that stormed back during the 2007 season.
The Saints on the other hand, are an enigma. Brees is consistently a monster, sure, but they can't stop anyone on defense and have shown (see the Carolina game for further example) that sometimes they don't show up on offense. And, of course, when that happens, the results are ugly.
SportsWrap
The top sports headlines of the day
But they showed up Sunday, Brees exacted revenge on the team that let him go, and the Saints stayed in a suddenly competitive (albeit Pantherrific) NFC South race.
