Defensive end Zach Harrison’s feet were in the Atlanta Falcons locker room after Sunday’s 26-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but his thoughts were back in the spring, sitting in the conference room of the team at Flowery Branch.

Harrison heard the voice of Falcons head coach Raheem Morris ringing in his head in the moments after Atlanta’s last-second victory over its NFC South rival.

“Rah, the first thing he said when he came in was, ‘We’ve got to run the South,’” Harrison told Falcons on SI postgame. “That’s our goal, and it started this week.”

But actually, accomplishing that feat started long before the Falcons and Saints kicked off Sunday afternoon.

Falcons linebackers coach Barrett Ruud, addressing his position group in the morning, told his players that games like Sunday’s are what Atlanta chooses its roster for.

“We’re picking the picks to win the Saints game and win these conference games,” Ruud told the crowd.

The Falcons did just that on Sunday. It was their first NFC South game of the year and the start of a three-week journey around the division. Atlanta hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday Night Football before getting a mini-bye week and traveling to take on the Carolina Panthers the following week.

For the Falcons, beating the Saints always means more. It’s a rivalry that now stands at 55 wins apiece, a rivalry that dates back to 1967.

It also marks a two-game swing in the NFC South – New Orleans started one game ahead of Atlanta on Sunday, but the two are now tied. A win would have given the Saints a two-game lead.

The Falcons’ path to victory was far from routine. They won without scoring an offensive touchdown for the first time since September 26, 2004. They found the end zone on both defense and special teams, something the team hasn’t done since Dec. 11, 2016.

Atlanta’s offense struggled. It mustered just 12 points, with kicker Younghoe Koo making four field goals, including a career-long 58-yarder with two seconds left to win the game.

The Falcons recorded 14 first downs to the Saints’ 25 and owned the ball for just 24 minutes to the Saints’ 36. New Orleans also played 19 more plays than Atlanta.

But the theme from the Falcons’ locker room is this: Atlanta knows there’s a lot to fix, but it’s much happier doing it after a win than a crushing home loss.

“The thing I don’t like about myself is that I have a standard that might be unattainable, and even after a win you feel like you have to play better,” Cousins ​​said. “I’ll still enjoy the win, believe me. There’s just a lot we left behind.”

Cousins ​​was frustrated after the game, which he said wouldn’t have been the case if he and the offense had played well. In his eyes that was not the case.

The 36-year-old Cousins ​​completed 21 of 35 passes for 238 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. Atlanta totaled 15 carries for 88 yards, an average of 5.9 yards per carry, but ultimately never reached the end zone.

Cousins ​​called penalties the team’s biggest drive killers, both inside and outside the redzone.

Atlanta had a 19-yard touchdown catch at running back. Bijan Robinson was negated for a holding penalty on left tackle Jake Matthews.

Center Ryan Neuzil was called for a false start on 4th and inches, forcing the offense to leave the field and settle for a field goal instead of getting a chance to push toward the end zone.

Left guard Matthew Bergeron committed a facemask penalty that not only took away a 13-yard completion on 2nd and 10, but pushed the Falcons to an unrecoverable 2nd and 25. The drive ended with a field goal after Atlanta failed to move the chains.

“I think we just shot ourselves in the foot,” Bergeron said after the Falcons game on SI, taking responsibility for his penalty. “I need to get better and get back to work.”

Atlanta went 4-of-11 on third down, doubling last season’s high of two third down conversions, a mark it reached in each of its first three games. As a result, the Falcons got more drives, as five of their nine series lasted at least six plays, and their only three-and-out came on their penultimate drive.

But that drive was Atlanta’s chance to put New Orleans to sleep. The Falcons couldn’t do it then. Their defense, which played admirably over the final three quarters, allowed a touchdown with a minute remaining.

Atlanta ultimately won because of Koo’s leg, but the winning drive was aided by a 30-yard defensive pass interference penalty on Saints cornerback Paulson Adebo. In addition, the Falcons offense lost five yards due to a false start on Neuzil.

Cousins ​​said the Falcons’ final possession wasn’t good enough — both for himself and the entire offense — but he again reiterated Sunday’s key numbers: Atlanta 26, New Orleans 24.

“I’m going to be pretty critical as I think about it,” Cousins ​​said. “I’m just grateful that I can get the critical evaluation after a win. So you’re grateful for the win, the outcome. It’s such a results-oriented competition. Getting a win is a big deal.”

The Falcons can’t rely on four field goals, defensive and special teams touchdowns and timely penalties from opponents per week. It’s an unsustainable way to win.

Still, winning Sunday is the biggest takeaway — and it’s especially big when you consider how hard it is to get wins in the NFL, as seventh-year cornerback Mike Hughes noted after the game. In the case of fourth-year safety Richie Grant, the Falcons were just 2-4 against the Saints during his tenure.

Grant, who made the late-game tackle on special teams, had a big smile in the Atlanta locker room after the game when asked about his emotions.

“Very good,” said Grant. ‘And we at home, to protect at home. We’ve hit the ground running south, so that’s exactly what we wanted.”

Wins like Sunday’s can take teams far. Besides the emotional lift, the Falcons were looking to a 1-3 start. They are now 2-2 with a home game looming against the division-leading Buccaneers.

Atlanta began its preparation for Tampa Bay immediately after beating New Orleans, with an emphasis on rehabilitation and recovery. Grant said he wasn’t sure how much film the Falcons planned to watch for the Saints’ triumph due to time constraints in the game-planning process.

The Falcons enter Thursday night with a chance to effectively erase their 1-2 start. A win would put them atop the NFC South for five weeks, one step closer to leading the division as Morris has long planned.

But as his vision unfolds, Morris doesn’t believe the Falcons are a team of destiny. Instead, they are a team with experienced poise and an unwavering will to fight until the clock reads zero.

“I don’t feel like Cinderella,” Morris said. “I feel like you have to go out and play every game, and you have to try to go out and win. And the more balanced team usually wins. I try to show my team spirit – what it looks and feels like, what it feels like to be resilient.

“They show us, and they show our city.”

The Falcons will try again against the Buccaneers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday at 8:15 p.m., but will need a much better offensive performance to do so.