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The NFL will not reschedule the New Orleans Saints preseason contest against the Los Angeles Chargers despite the threat posed by Hurricane Hilary.

Officials considered moving up the kickoff time or canceling the game all together, but eventually decided to stick with the 4:05 p.m. Pacific time kickoff.

The storm is expected to inundate Southern California with heavy rain and high winds as it makes landfall early Sunday. It is expected to hit the coast as a tropical storm, and the National Hurricane Center warned in its advisory that the storm could bring "life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flooding likely over much of Baja California and the Southwestern U.S. this weekend and early next week."

The NHC categorized Hilary as a Category 3 storm, but it is expected to weaken as it approaches the coast.

This is an exceedingly rare weather event in Southern California. The last time a tropical storm hit the area was 1939, before storms were officially named, and this week was the first time the region was ever put under a tropical storm warning.

Quote:

"Obviously, with the weather, the most important thing is that everybody stays safe, so whatever it takes for everybody to stay safe, that's what we've got to do," Saints coach Dennis Allen said Friday afternoon.

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Coming off wins in their exhibition openers, the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Chargers will meet Sunday night at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

The game comes on the heels of the two teams staging joint practices on Thursday and Friday at the Chargers' facility in Costa Mesa, California.

One Saints player who is already intimately familiar with the Chargers is quarterback Derek Carr, who spent his first nine seasons in the NFL with the Chargers' AFC West rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders..

The Chargers are coming off a convincing 34-17 victory over the Rams in their preseason opener, one in which they rolled up an impressive 214 yards on the ground. Undrafted free agent running back Elijah Dotson accounted for 92 of those yards on only six carries, breaking off a pair of long touchdown runs.

The Saints, under second-year head coach Dennis Allen, will likely lean heavily on Carr and wideouts Chris Olave and Michael Thomas this season -- especially with starting running back Alvin Kamara out for the first three games due to a suspension. In the Saints' 26-24 win over Kansas City last week, Olave didn't catch his only target and Thomas hauled in one pass for 16 yards in limited action.

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