MNF: Saints vs Chargers Game Thread

Monday Night Football, Week 5. Tonight the New Orleans Saints play host to the Los Angeles Chargers.

This one features an intriguing matchup between a 41 year old legend, Drew Brees, nearing retirement and starting to show his age, and a 22 year old phenom, Justin Herbert, off to a hot start in the rookie year of what he hopes to be a legendary career.

The 2-2 Saints have been a bit of a disappointment this year. They came into the season as one of the NFC favorites to make the Super Bowl, but losses to the Raiders and the Packers, along with last week’s close win over the hapless Lions, has fans wondering just how good this Saints team is. The offense has been uncharacteristically middling, and Drew Brees has been showing his age without star receiver Michael Thomas. Thomas will miss tonight’s game due to disciplinary reasons. It has been a rough start to the year for Thomas, who has just 17 yards receiving due to injuries.

The Saints defense, usually stout, has struggled lately, giving up 29 or more points in each of the last three games. A middling offense and a struggling defense is not the scenario most Saints fans had in mind for this season, but it’s what they’ve had to accept thus far.

The 1-3 Chargers have lost three straight games following an opening day win over the Bengals. Rookie quarterback Justin Herbert has been at the reins for all three losses, but with an average of more than 310 yards passing per game and a sparkling 102 passer rating, Herbert is not the reason the Chargers are losing. This is a young Chargers team in the midst of a rebuild. They have not had the benefit of turnovers, registering a -4 turnover differential on the season. If they can clean that up the Chargers have some things to be excited about for the future, not the least of which is Herbert.

It’s the Saints and the Chargers in a battle of the generations on Monday Night Football.

Enjoy the game everybody.