Garth McLennan sports@theotherpress.ca NFL crosses the BROOKLYN PUB PONG 5, vic sinnin WATERERONT LOUNGE 250 Columbia St. 604.517.2966 www.brooklyn.ca Thursday: 1/2 price appies 4-8 pm $5.50 Double Highballs $13.00 Pitchers of Brooklyn Lager THURSDAY ae IS STUDENT NIGHT! Friday: - $3.50 Vodka Cranberries | | $4.50 Crown Royal _ | $10.95 7oz Sirloin Steak wi Caeser Salad, Garlic toast, & Prawns THURSDAY, — , Saturday: FRIDAY & - oe ee renderings 0.95 7oz Sirloin Steak SATURDAY wi pa eae. Gatic toast, & Prawns ae Daily $3 Shot Sneciall O, Sunday, for the second straight year, two NFL teams headed across the pond to England to play a football game, sort of as a way of getting the European community more involved in the game of football. The first game was played last year between the Super Bowl winning New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins that ended with a 13-10 Giants win, in a messy, low-scoring, down-pouring affair. The NFL wanted to extend its global reach and felt that playing a regular season game each year in England would help. Although the fans love it out there, it’s a little bit tougher on the players and personnel. On Sunday, the unfortunate souls that headed out to England to play one of their regular season games at London’s Wembley Stadium were the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers. With much better weather than last year’s waterworks, the match-up promised to be a high-scoring affair. Former Charger, now-Saints quarterback, Drew Brees had been tearing up the secondary of each and every team he’s played so far, even though the Saints only sported a .500 record at 3-3; Brees leads the league in total passing yards. On the opposing side were the San Diego Chargers, who had a gun-slinging quarterback of their own, Philip Rivers. Rivers is also a very accurate QB that took over the Chargers offense when Brees signed with the Saints in 2005. The Chargers had superstar running back, LaDainian Tomlinson, who, although was not having his best season so far, is still a prolific running back, and definitely one of the best in the league. After last year’s 13-10 game, the fans in England were probably hoping for a more offensively powerful football game, and did they ever get it. The final score of the game was 37-32, and even that score was only finalized by an interception with just over a minute to go in the game. Both teams headed into this game with 3-3 records, pretty much making it a must-win for each team. The Chargers, after making it to the AFC Championship last year and losing to the New England Patriots, were expected to easily make the playoffs again this year, while the Saints were believed to be talented enough to challenge for a playoff spot in the NFC. With 83,000 on hand, an increase from last year’s game, the game kicked off at 6 p.m. GMT. The first quarter was very reminiscent of last year’s game, ending 3-3 with only a field-goal by each team. The second quarter is where the game really blew up. 34 points were scored in the second quarter alone. The Saints got off to a great start, scoring two straight touchdowns, one on a pass by Brees, the other on a one-yard run by Deuce McAllister. The Chargers responded three minutes later with a TD of their own, on a 12-yard pass from Rivers to Tomlinson. The quarter wrapped up with two more touchdowns in the final four minutes; one, a 30 yard pass by Drew Brees, giving the Chargers a 23-10 lead, but with a minute left in the quarter, Philip Rivers’ pass to tight end Antonio Gates brought the chargers within six and headed into half-time with a score of 23-17. The third quarter was once again a defensive battle, with Brees throwing for one TD, and the Saints’ defense stifling the Chargers’ offense, holding them to a field-goal. 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, the Saints scored their final TD of the game, which ended up being enough for the win, even though the Chargers mounted an unsuccessful comeback, making it 37-30. An interception by Jonathan Vilma of the Saints, with just over a minute to go, dashed any hopes of that happening. The game finally ended 37-32, an offensively-charged game. Luckily for both teams, they won’t be headed to England for a while. Sure they’ll miss the fish ‘n’ chips, but that jet lag will get to ya.