When the National Football League (NFL) conceived the idea of taking regular-season games overseas, yesterday’s meeting between the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers must have been very much the sort of occasion they had in mind. Last year’s inaugural Wembley game, a rain-affected war of

attrition between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins, was an historic event rather than entertainment, but this was a feast of attacking play as quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers gorged on beleagured defences.

There were spectacular touchdown catches and dynamic running plays to absorb the crowd of 83,226 as the Saints won 37-32 and kept alive their chances of reaching the play-offs, which would have been all but over had they lost.

The game’s star performer was Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback, who showed the Chargers what they had given up when they allowed him to leave San Diego as a free agent in 2006. Brees threw three touchdown passes as New Orleans built a lead that could not be pulled back.

“This game was not about me proving they should never have let me go,” Brees said. “We beat a very good team who needed the win as much as we did. Last year, playing here was springboard for the Giants, so let’s hope lightning strikes twice.”

The Saints were expected to be hampered by the absence through injury of Reggie Bush, but Deuce McAllister, replaced by Bush as the team’s featured running back in 2006, stepped back out of his shadow to play a significant part. The 29-year-old rushed for 55 yards and a touchdown at the end of a week in which he was one of three Saints players reported to have failed drugs tests in violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

“We have been going through this for a while even though you guys have only just heard about it,” he said. “You always want to play by the rules and that is what we have tried to do. There is more to this story than a couple of lines. We have hired counsel and he is going to put our case.”

Philip Rivers, Brees’s opposite number and his former understudy in San Diego, threw for three touchdowns of his own, but this time he fell just short of one of the comeback victories for which he has become known. The game ended with Rivers throwing a desperate “Hail Mary” pass into the New Orleans end zone that, if caught, would have won his team the game.

“We struggled on defence,” Norv Turner, the San Diego head coach, said. “They are a talented team, and Brees was hot. But both quarterbacks are talented, and Philip Rivers made some amazing throws. It has been a great experience and I’m glad we were part of it.”

The Saints were the “home” team, and a tailgate party in the car park that featured Cajun food and jazz bands was an attempt to make their fans feel at home, although Wembley Way can never be confused for Bourbon Street. But when the two teams were formally introduced to the crowd, the Saints, especially Brees and McAllister, received the warmer welcome.

The crowd soon picked up the traditional low moan of “Deuce” from the visiting fans from Louisiana. An old-school back who aims to power his way through through the middle in short bursts, McAllister paved the way for the opening touchdown, as Brees found Devery Henderson, then ran in the second himself after the Chargers fumbled the ensuing kick-off return.

But in LaDainian Tomlinson the Chargers have an elite running back who is more explosive and elusive than McAllister, and he ran in the Chargers’ first touchdown. Brees, though, effectively won the game with touchdown passes to Lance Moore and Mark Campbell either side of Antonio Gates’s score for San Diego.

“An exciting game, a big win,” Sean Payton, the New Orleans head coach — and a former quarterback with the Leicester Panthers — said. “Both teams played hard and it came down to a few plays that we were able to make. The atmosphere was great, and we felt an excitement for our team. Logistically, there are some challenges, but we were proud to play this game on behalf of the people of New Orleans.”

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