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Loving London
Type: Latest News
26 October 2008 11:03 PM - Henry Hodgson
The New Orleans Saints emerged as happy winners after they overcame won the 2008 Bridgestone International Series game 37-32 at Wembley, but both they and the San Diego Chargers will leave London with smiles on their faces after successful weeks in the UK.
The Saints beat the Chargers 37-32 after Drew Brees threw for 339 yards and three touchdowns - outgunning his former teammates from San Diego. Brees left knowing that there is past evidence that victory at Wembley can turn a season around and propel a team to the Super Bowl.
"A win over here springboarded the Giants to a number of consecutive wins and oviously the Super Bowl championship," said Brees. "So let's just hope that lightning can strike twice."
"We're hoping that we can string together a few wins so that we can say ‘hey, it all got started in London'," added cornerback Mike McKenzie.
All the Saints players agreed that the NFL's UK fans had contributed a large slice of the homefield advantage that they could expect to have received at the Superdome.
"We thought that they didn't know that much about football, but it was great that people from London, England, understood what was going on and that they took the time to come out here and see us," said defensive end Will Smith.
"It was a crowd that you could tell enjoy sports, period," McKenzie said. "They enjoyed the game and they cheered throughout and I felt like we had the true support of the home team. It was a great day and a great experience and I hope the NFL continues to do this."
"The atmosphere was incredible," agreed linebacker Scott Shanle. "You could feel the energy from the fans and it was a great experience being here at Wembley Stadium for the first time."
"For us it definitely felt like a home game," said linebacker Jonathan Vilma. "We had the Saints signs all across the board, the media guide, the program was all about the Saints. They seemed really into us."
Fans in the UK can rest assured that Saints players would highly recommend a game in London to their colleagues from the other 32 teams.
"I'd tell (players on other NFL teams) to come over here are take it all in because they may never get the chance to do this again and to play at a historic stadium like Wembley," said running back Aaron Stecker. "It is a positive experience."
Despite the fact that they were thousands of miles away from their regular base, the Saints did not miss a beat during their week of work in London.
"I don't think it was a distraction because we put all the work in we needed to, stayed in a nice hotel and had the opportunity to stay together as a team and watch film and really focus on the game," said defensive end Will Smith.
"We were about 45 minutes away from the city so there weren't any distractions and later in the week we also got to see the city, so we had the best of both worlds," added Stecker.
Despite being on the losing side, San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson agreed that travelling from the west coast all the way to London did not play any part in the final outcome.
"Getting here on a Monday, we had a whole week to adjust, our schedule was good and I don't think it affected us at all," said Tomlinson.
"If you ask any one of the players in our locker room they will tell you that they will come back and do this again."
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