The Saints haven't played their week one game yet, but the NFC South standings already look promising for the New Orleans team.

The Bucs, Falcons and Panthers all lost on Sunday. The Saints play the Texans on Monday night.

NFC South standings

Saints 0-0

Bucs 0-1

Falcons 0-1

Panthers 0-1 — Rod Walker (@RodWalkerNola) September 8, 2019

The Saints will be the first Monday Night Football game on ESPN's schedule this season, kicking off at 6:10 p.m. in the Superdome.

+5 Saints vs. Texans live updates: See what Sean Payton, players have to say after thrilling win vs. Texans Just one more to go in the NFL preseason. You ready? Follow along with our coverage live at the Superdome as the New Orleans Saints face off with the Miami Dolphins.

49ers beat Bucs 31-7

Richard Sherman and Ahkello Witherspoon returned two of a retooled San Francisco defense's three interceptions of Jameis Winston for touchdowns and Robbie Gould kicked three field goals in the 49ers's 31-17 victory over Tampa Bay on Sunday.

Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 166 yards and one touchdown in his first game in nearly a year.

Winston threw for 194 yards to become Tampa Bay's career passing leader, including a 10-yard scoring pass to Chris Godwin that trimmed a double-digit deficit to 20-14 late in the third quarter. Ultimately, though, the Bucs could not overcome the fifth-year quarterback's mistakes and dropped their debut under coach Bruce Arians, who was lured out of retirement after Tampa Bay finished 5-11 last season and missed the playoffs for the 11th straight year.

Garoppolo, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, completed 18 of 27 passes with one interception. His 39-yard pass to Richie James Jr. put the 49ers ahead for good early in the second half.

Despite becoming Tampa Bay's career passing leader, Winston has yet to lead the team to the playoffs or prove he's the club's long-term answer at quarterback. Arians has also worked with Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck and Carson Palmer as a long-time coach and offensive coordinator, and the Bucs are counting on him to help the No. 1 overall pick from the 2015 draft realize his potential.

This is also a season when the 49ers are counting on Garoppolo to make major strides, too. The 49ers gave the sixth-year pro a $137.5 million, five-year contract after Garoppolo won his first five starts for San Francisco in 2017. He didn't look nearly as good early last season, when he completed less than 60 percent of his passes before suffering a knee injury that sidelined him the final 13 games.

Neither quarterback distinguished himself during a sloppy first half that saw the teams combine for four turnovers and have five touchdowns — three by San Francisco, two by Tampa Bay — nullified because of penalties in a 7-6 game.

The Bucs' Vernon Hargreaves returned an interception 15 yards for the only TD that counted before halftime. Sherman countered for the 49ers, sprinting 31 yards up the sideline with his first interception in eight games to give San Francisco a 20-7 lead a little over three minutes into the third quarter. Witherspoon put the game out of reach with his 25-yard TD return in the closing minutes.

Vikings beat Falcons 28-12

It will be simple, and tempting, to paint the Vikings’ emphatic season-opening 28-12 victory over the Falcons as a manifesto for how they want to approach the entire 2019 season. Their commanding performance required just seven first-half pass attempts from Kirk Cousins, as their zone running scheme produced four of their six longest plays of the day, their withering pass rush set up three turnovers and they blocked a punt to stake their first score.

The reality of the 16-game season will likely demand nuance be added to the narrative; the Vikings faced a Falcons team that ranked 25th in the league against the run last season, and their decision to activate just four receivers on Sunday underscored their belief they could exert their will on Atlanta’s defense at home. Upcoming tests, starting with the Packers next Sunday at Lambeau Field, will likely require more balance.

But even if the first performance for the Kevin Stefanski-Gary Kubiak combo was largely based on a single riff, it’s one the Vikings didn’t have under their fingers for most of last season. They surpassed 150 rushing yards just twice last season, and had only seven runs of 20 yards or more, as an overmatched offensive line and creative dissonance on the coaching staff bewitched their season.

On Sunday, at least, a team that has often struggled in recent years to come up with different ways to win showed itself capable of a new one.

Cousins threw only 10 passes — the fewest of his career as a starter — and the Vikings leaned on big gains from Dalvin Cook and rookie Alexander Mattison to pull away from the Falcons. Their defense flashed its commanding form from 2017, holding Atlanta scoreless for three quarters and sacking Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan four times.

Cook scored a pair of touchdowns, and Anthony Harris had two interceptions and a fumble recovery to lead the defense.

Cook ran for 111 yards on 21 carries. Ryan threw a pair of scoring passes for Atlanta in the fourth quarter after it fell behind 28-0.

The Vikings took a 21-0 halftime lead thanks to a pair of early Falcons mistakes.

Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson blocked Matt Bosher’s punt on Atlanta’s first possession, and the Vikings took over at the Falcons’ 21. After a penalty and a run, Cousins hit Adam Thielen for a 23-yard score.

The Vikings quickly got the ball back when Ryan was intercepted by Harris at the Falcons’ 41. Cook capped a four-play drive with a 19-yard touchdown run.

Cousins scored the final touchdown of the half on a 1-yard dive after 10-play, 59-yard second quarter drive.

Harris’ second interception stopped a potential Atlanta scoring drive early in the third quarter. The Falcons got to the Vikings’ 2 on a pass interference penalty on Trae Waynes. Two plays later, Ryan seemed as if he was trying to throw the ball away in the right corner of the end zone, but there was enough room for Harris to get there and make the pick.

The interference call on Waynes, who ran into Atlanta’s Calvin Ridley, was challenged by Vikings coach Mike Zimmer under new NFL rules that allow such a challenge.

The Vikings rolled 80 yards to go ahead 28-0 on Cook’s 7-yard scoring run. The drive was helped along by two personal foul penalties on the Falcons defense, one of which came after a 31-yard pass from Cousins to Stefon Diggs.

Ryan hit Ridley for a 20-yard score with 9:19 remaining, but the two-point conversion pass was incomplete. Ryan found Julio Jones for a 2-yard touchdown with 1:09 left.

Rams beat Panthers 30-27

For the better part of three quarters, Todd Gurley was barely visible.

Then the two-time All-Pro running back showed up in a big way to carry the load when the Rams need him most. He ran for 64 of his 97 yards in the fourth quarter to help Los Angeles grind out a 30-27 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Gurley's carries were truncated late in the Rams' NFC championship season due to knee soreness, causing some question about his durability heading into 2019. And after Gurley gained just 8 yards on five carries in the first half, there was even more head scratching.

But Gurley seemed to catch his stride with a 25-yard burst in the third quarter. And with the Rams protecting a 3-point lead with 10 minutes remaining, Gurley carried four straight times, picking up 41 yards to set up a 5-yard touchdown pass from Jared Goff to Tyler Higbee — the difference on the scoreboard.

Gurley added a first down in the final two minutes, allowing the Rams to run out the clock.

"It was four-minute situation," Gurley said of his mindset. "Get a first down, get out of here and go back to L.A. with the win."

Prior to that, Malcolm Brown carried the vast majority of the load for the Rams (1-0) and finished with 53 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns. Brown had just one touchdown rushing in his previous four seasons combined with the Rams.

Rams coach Sean McVay said it was great to see Gurley "close it out."

He said the running back situation — and Brown getting the goal-line carries — was a matter of rotating his running backs.

"He had some great runs, running through some arm tackles," McVay said of Gurley. "You could see the explosion once he gets to the second and third level. He made some great runs."

In all, the Rams ran for 166 yards on 32 carries.

"When you play an offense like this you've got to do a better job in the run game and we've got to get turnovers," said Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly.

Goff threw for 186 yards and was picked off once and Cooper Kupp had seven catches for 46 yards in his return from a torn ACL last November.