The Saints and Chargers conducted a joint 2 1/2-hour practice session on Thursday. The Chargers outplayed the Saints by a wide margin during seven-on-seven drills. Philip Rivers and Los Angeles' offense was much sharper than Drew Brees and New Orleans' offense. The Saints wide receivers had trouble separating themselves from the Chargers' talented cornerbacks and Brees didn't have enough time to find them.

That's one indication how this preseason game might turn out. But of equal, if not stronger importance, is the motivation angle.

This is the Chargers' first season playing in Los Angeles. They laid an egg at home in their first preseason game falling to the Seahawks, 48-17, last Sunday. The Chargers also have a first-year head coach, Anthony Lynn.

The Chargers won't play at home again until Sept. 17. Their next three games are all on the road. So this becomes much more than just a preseason game for the Chargers. Lynn wants to get the new fans on his side and build interest. Lynn wants to win this game very bad.

Saints coach Sean Payton doesn't. Payton is one of those coaches like Mike Tomlin who doesn't care about preseason. That's reflected in the Saints losing and failing to cover in their last eight August preseason games, including losing to the Browns, 20-14, last week.

Payton isn't going to take any chances with Brees, nor even with second-stringer Chase Daniel. This means likely big minutes for Garrett Grayson and Ryan Nassib. These are very bad quarterbacks.

I like Rivers and his backup quarterbacks - Kellen Clemens and Cardale Jones - better.