Super Bowl champions the New Orleans Saints have kicked off the NFL season with a 14-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday.
The hotly-anticipated rematch of last season's NFC Championship game was more miserly than most would have predicted, though Saints quarterback Drew Brees still managed to pass to seven different receivers for 237 yards and a touchdown at the Louisiana Superdome.
Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre threw 171 yards and a touchdown, but his late-season passing woes continued with an interception in the second quarter.
It took just four plays for Brees to throw the first touchdown of the season, rolling right and firing a 29-yard pass to Devery Henderson on a clear-out route up the right-hand sideline.
The Vikings finally got on the scoreboard in the second quarter through kicker Ryan Longwell, who drilled a 41-yard field goal after Favre's drive stalled at New Orleans' 23-yard line.
Trailing 7-3, Minnesota's defence tightened the screws on Brees, forcing the Super Bowl MVP into dump-off throws and shutting down the Saints' pass-happy offence.
Favre's limp pass up the middle was easily picked off by linebacker Jonathon Vilma, though the Saints failed to capitalise when Garrett Hartley's 46-yard field goal attempt sailed wide.
Favre showed he hadn't lost all his magic though, putting the Vikings ahead with 45 seconds left before half-time with a 33-yard touchdown up the middle to tight end Visanthe Shiancoe.
Shiancoe leapt into the air in double coverage to bring the pass down inside the end zone, and Remi Ayodele blocked the extra point to leave New Orleans trailing 7-9 at the half.
The Saints broke out the run after the break, marching 74 yards on their first drive and scoring on a one-yard rush to Pierre Thomas to reclaim the lead at 14-9.
And that would prove to be the last score for either offence.
Saints coach Sean Peyton played it safe in the final quarter with possession football, utilising the running game to drain the clock.
Hartley, last year's NFC Championship hero, missed a second field-goal attempt in the final quarter, but a crucial first-down to Thomas kept Favre on the sidelines for the final two minutes and allowed Brees to take a knee for a hard-fought win.