This is a gift for football lovers.
Darrelle Revis versus Keenan Allen.
The Rematch.
No one saw this sequel coming, so call it a surprise gift.
Revis and Allen will duel tonight in the AFC West showdown between division co-leaders Kansas City and Los Angeles.
Revis is a future Pro Football Hall of Famer who plays cornerback like a zen master and who recently came out of retirement, although he doesn't need the money and owns a Super Bowl ring.
Allen is a rising receiver, perhaps the hottest NFL wideout going who's not named Antonio Brown. He has returned to peak form in a comeback from reconstructive knee surgery. He wants a Super Bowl ring, and beating K.C. would put his team atop the AFC West, alone, with two games to go.
They went against each other one other time, three Decembers ago, at Jack Murphy Field.
Back then, Allen was 22 years old and having his second strong season with the San Diego Chargers.
Catching the eye of Revis and Bill Belichick, the cornerback's head coach, Allen had blistered the Baltimore Ravens for 11 catches in the previous game.
So when Belichick's New England Patriots arrived in Mission Valley, they gave Allen the star treatment.
Wherever Allen lined up, Revis followed.
"That's definitely a respect move, putting the best cornerback in the league on me," Allen said back then.
The effect was chilling.
Revis allowed Allen only two catches in three targets, a key factor to New England controlling and winning the game.
Allen said he played better than the statistics showed, but that Revis taught him a few things.
"You just need to learn from it," Allen said in 2014.
Allen, 6 feet 2 inches tall and about 210 pounds, had roasted an array of cornerbacks through his young career.
That night in front of a national TV audience, very seldom did he shake the steady Revis, 5-11 and nearly 200 pounds.
After studying the game film, Allen restated his high opinion of Revis.
"I still think he's the best cornerback in the league," he said in 2014. "Lots of credit to him. He has great technique. He's very patient. He understands his technique."
Revis and the Pats went on to win the Super Bowl.
For the Chargers and Allen, things went from bad to worse.
Allen broke his collarbone in the next game, and the team fell short of the Super Bowl tournament with a 9-7 record.
This time around, the circumstances have improved for Allen.
He is grooved, having played all 13 games this season, yet may have fresher legs after missing most of last season after tearing a knee ligament.
He and Philip Rivers are in sync within an offense that has several other playmakers who are catching on.
Over the past four games, Allen has gone for 100 yards receiving each outing.
The 25-year-old is winning as a split end, a flanker and a slot receiver in addition to making defenders miss or even slamming into them as a ballcarrier. Over the four games, he has caught 39 of 49 targets for 547 yards and 4 touchdowns.
Best stating Allen's case for the All-Pro team is this statistic: He leads the NFL with 31 receptions and 464 yards on third down.
Revis, 32, has played two games since joining the Chiefs last month. In effect, he's still in training camp.
He played well against the Oakland Raiders last week, however. And he will have help too: Marcus Peters, a 2016 All-Pro cornerback, is expected to play today after missing the previous game on a one-game suspension.
Will Revis line up against Allen on almost every snap, as he did three years ago?
Probably not.
The savvy and intense Peters, a Chargers nemesis whom Allen referred to as a "bum" last year, faced Allen in Week 3 and probably will draw him again on several plays.
But Revis and Allen figure to cross paths.
And, with a berth to the Super Bowl tournament within reach, getting the better of Revis would be especially welcomed by Team Spanos in light of Revis' successes against it.
In the 2009-season playoff game at San Diego, Revis made an acrobatic interception off a Rivers floater thrown to Vincent Jackson, fueling the New York Jets' victory as a nine-point underdog (with current L.A. head Coach Anthony Lynn on New York's staff).
Two years later in New Jersey, the Jets' pass defense, again getting an interception from Revis, keyed a second-half comeback, and Coach Norv Turner's Chargers, who were 4-1, unraveled after losing that game.
Sports on 12/16/2017