CHARLOTTE — The NFC South got weird again this week, and in a way, it's nice that we can always count on that. The Bucs, who hadn't played a divisional game yet and had won only one game so far, came into Charlotte and knocked off the division's top team. Across the ocean, the Saints fell after an anemic rushing performance, and in Atlanta, the Falcons handed the 49ers their first loss of the season.

It was another week reminding us that football is weird and unpredictable, and that's why we come back week after week to see what might happen.

This is the Panthers' first divisional loss of the season and moves them back to .500. It's a quick turnaround, though, with a road game to Green Bay this week for Thursday Night Football.

With the Bucs win, the division standings shifted, but by virtue of the fact that the Panthers have fewer losses, they remain at the top.

NFC South standings after Week 6:

1. Carolina Panthers: 3-3, 1-1
2. Atlanta Falcons: 3-4, 1-1
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 2-5, 1-0
4. New Orleans Saints: 2-5, 0-1

From trips to Paris to lopsided first halves and dominant defensive performances, catch up with everything that happened around the rest of the division in Week 7.

Atlanta Falcons: Dominant defensive performance knocks off an unbeaten

Week 7 began with three unbeaten teams in the NFL. By day's end, only one remained: the Minnesota Vikings. The Falcons did their part to knock off one of those unbeaten teams with a 29-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers.

On national tight ends day, Nick Muse got the scoring started for the Falcons with his first career touchdown catch on his second career reception. Kyle Pitts added a score as well, and recorded his 300th career reception, becoming the sixth-youngest tight end in NFL history to reach the milestone.

The 49ers were without a slew of skill players. Six receivers were on injured reserve or inactive, including Mike Evans. Running back Christian McCaffrey also had to manage a quad injury throughout the game and was held to 39 yards (and one touchdown) on seven rushes.

Atlanta capitalized with a dominant defensive performance. Jessie Bates III picked off Brock Purdy at the 10-yard line to stop a San Francisco drive heading toward the end zone. That is Bates 14th interception since joining the Falcons in 2023, which is tied for third-most in the NFL during the last four seasons.

The group forced three fumbles on the 49ers and recovered two.

But the real story of the day was Kendal Daniels. A week after being stretchered off the field and evaluated for a neck injury, the rookie linebacker made a full recovery. With veteran Divine Deablo out with a forearm injury, Daniels took the green dot. Then, he made what amounted to the game-winning play.

The 49ers were driving, down by six with less than three minutes remaining, when Daniels jumped a Brock Purdy pass for an interception and returned it 29 yards. The Falcons added an insurance three points with the good field position.

"I was super impressed," defensive tackle Maason Smith said of Daniels' interception. "Honestly, one of the best plays that I've seen since being in the league. Only other thing that I can probably think of was Devin Lloyd last year against Kansas City, 99-yard touchdown."

Then, Daniels made another game-clinching play, jumping on a fumble forced by Jessie Bates III on George Kittle on the 49ers' last gasp.

"That's remarkable, truly," Stefanski said. "What a great kid. We just gave him a game ball, and he deserves it because what a week. What a seven days that was. Seven days ago, we're in here talking about him being at the hospital and talking to his family and all the emotional stuff that he went through.

"And then, oh, by the way, go play in a game against Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy and put the green dot on and call the defense. That's unbelievable to just do that. And then, to make a play at the end, man, really proud of that kid."

Next game: vs. Buccaneers (2-5), 1:00 p.m. EST in Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Pour it on early in upset win over Panthers

Tampa Bay entered Sunday's game 1-5, with Baker Mayfield back for the first time since Week 3, and without Emeka Egbuka. But from the opening drive, the Bucs made it clear they were ready to run it against a defense that allowed only 92.5 rushing yards per game from Week 2 through Week 6.

And that's exactly what they did. Bucky Irving had 47 rushing yards on the first drive, more than Carolina allowed to the Eagles all of last week (35). He capped it with a touchdown, his first of two on the day.

"That was big-time, just complementary football at its finest," said Mayfield of the run game. "For me, I'm just trying to command and operate the huddle with the cans in the run game. When you're able to lean on those guys up front and the tight ends and receivers are involved too and let the backs do their work, that was fun to watch."

Even if the Bucs hadn't found an advantage to run it all day (Mayfield only threw it 11 times for 7 completions, for 64 yards), Tampa Bay still took advantage of Panthers mistakes, which came early and often in the first half.

A rare David Moore muffed punt set Tampa Bay up on a short field, which they converted into a field goal. All things considered, the Panthers held the Bucs to 3 points even though they got all the way to the 4-yard line, and that was a win. But on the ensuing drive, a Bryce Young sack led to a fumble that defensive lineman Calijah Kancey picked up and returned 32 yards for a touchdown, flipping it into the end zone for good measure.

A block on a Panthers point-after attempt was returned 73 yards for the rare 2-point play.

The turnovers weren't over. McCollum, who returned the PAT, jumped in front of a Jalen Coker route when the receiver slipped, and picked off Bryce Young . The Bucs capitalized on it with a Kenny Gainwell drive, capped by a wide-open Tez Johnson touchdown. Two drives later, Tampa Bay picked off Young again and turned the short field into another field goal.

In total, Tampa Bay scored 22 points off of turnovers.

Todd Bowles' defense, which came in having blitzed at the third-highest rate in the league, smothered Young all day, sacking him five times.

"I thought the D-line and secondary worked well together," said Bowles. "The coverage helped the rush, the rush helped the coverage, and they were getting off the ball early, and they were making some plays. You really didn't have to come after them much when the D-line is getting off the ball like that"

Running back Kenny Gainwell exited after halftime with a hip injury but returned in the fourth quarter.

Next game: vs. Falcons (3-4), 1:00 p.m. EST in Tampa Bay

New Orleans Saints: A trip to Paris ends in a close loss

The New Orleans Saints are French at heart, so it made sense they would lead the way for the NFL's first-ever game in Paris. They were joined by Pittsburgh at Stade de France on Sunday.

The two teams traded field goals early, and the score stayed close all day, but explosive plays from Aaron Rodgers and the Saints' lack of a running game tilted the scales toward the Steelers. The Saints didn't have a single rusher go over 10 yards, and the leading rusher was quarterback Tyler Shough with 7 yards.

"When you have a day like today, 17 runs for 18 yards, it's going to be hard to win football games doing that," said coach Kellen Moore.

The Saints caught two breaks in the first half, when two would-be fumbles were overturned.

Without a running game, Tyler Shough had to throw more. He finished 30-of-38 for 278 yards and a touchdown. But he also threw a third-quarter interception in the red zone, which the Steelers turned into a field goal for what would be the final score.

"We had our opportunities, but ultimately they made a few more plays than us," said Moore. "Margins are small in this game and when you have your opportunities you've got to take advantage of them, and they made more than we did."

A missed fourth-quarter field goal by the Saints gave the Steelers breathing room. Then Aaron Rodgers, who rarely, if ever, runs anymore, scrambled 8 yards on a third-and-6 for what effectively ended the game.

Running back CJ Donaldson was ruled out with a shoulder injury, and safety Justin Reid left the game with a concussion.

Next game: BYE WEEK