Graphic: how the two quarterbacks compare

A year ago, in the first NFL regular-season game to be staged outside North America, the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins struggled through a low-scoring game of errors and turnovers in miserable conditions. Although the crowd was enthusiastic and the sense of occasion made the event a success — and the Giants went on to win the Super Bowl — the game itself was best forgotten.

Tomorrow, when the New Orleans Saints play host to the San Diego Chargers, the Wembley Stadium crowd should experience a much greater spectacle between teams rich in offensive weapons but with less impressive defences.

The teams are far more interested in victory than sightseeing after falling short of high pre-season expectations, owing to inconsistency and injuries. They have identical records, with three wins and four defeats, and a fifth loss could mean the end of any ambitions of reaching the play-offs. Conversely, victory will be viewed as a potential kick-start to the season.

“I honestly think the London game was why the Giants were successful last year,” LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers running back, said. “They went to London and it kind of changed their season.” London will also hope that Tomlinson, one of the sport’s top performers, is able to bring his A-game to Wembley. He has had an underwhelming season by his high standards, largely because of a toe injury that he claims is now healed, and he feels an obligation to give a memorable performance on what he knows is a bigger stage than usual.

“It does make you want to put on a good exhibition because you know that the world is watching,” he said.

Tomlinson will be in opposition to his friend, Drew Brees, the former San Diego quarterback who now leads the Saints offence after moving to New Orleans in 2006, and became an inspirational figure in the recovery of the city from the effects of Hurricane Katrina.

The career of Brees, though, seemed to be going nowhere until the Chargers acquired Philip Rivers to replace him in 2004 — a move that improved their strength at quarterback, but hardly in the way they had expected. While Rivers struggled to agree contract terms, Brees did so well in pre-season that he could not be dropped. Brees and Tomlinson led the Chargers from last to first in the American Football Conference West division until an injury to the quarterback’s shoulder gave Rivers his chance to prove that an expensive new extension to Brees’s contract was unnecessary.

“Drew and I knew each other in high school,” Tomlinson said. “I remember we made a pact that we were going to turn the Chargers around. We had started to do that, but sometimes the things you have planned are not what the organisation has planned. New Orleans was devastated after Hurricane Katrina and really needed someone like Drew, not just as a quarterback but as a person. I think it has worked out for the best.”

Brees led the Saints to a first appearance in a National Football Conference Championship Game — effectively a Super Bowl semi-final — in his first season, while Rivers led the Chargers to successive divisional titles.

Tomorrow will be the first time the teams have played each other since Brees left. “Of course there’s that little extra, although I'm not going to put any added pressure on myself,” Brees said. “But if I sat here and said it’s just any other game, I’d be lying.”

- Deuce McAllister and Will Smith, of the New Orleans Saints, have been named as being on a list of players who have allegedly tested positive for a diuretic banned by the NFL. McAllister, 29, who is likely to be the Saints’ featured running back at Wembley tomorrow in the absence of the injured Reggie Bush, and Smith, 27, the starting defensive end, were the only players cited in a report by Fox 31 television in Denver, Colorado, which alleged that the number of failed tests was more than ten and may exceed 15. The tests detected water pills that help weight loss, but also mask the use of steroids. The Saints and the NFL refused to comment.

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