1. Jarius Wright underrated no more

Cordarrelle Patterson didn't get his first offensive touch until 13 minutes, 50 seconds remained in the third quarter. But it didn't matter because underrated Jarius Wright already had five of them for 105 yards by that point. And the Vikings led by 10. Give offensive coordinator Norv Turner credit for game-planning the first drive around a guy the Falcons never expected to get the ball. On the Vikings' third offensive snap, Turner called a short pass right to Wright that caught everyone off guard. "It was a little screen play," Wright said. "I push my man up and Greg [Jennings] comes in flat to block him. I run my route off Greg's back, and Greg had a great block." The next block to spring Wright came from left tackle Matt Kalil as Wright crossed the field for a 52-yard gain on third-and-7. Wright caught three passes for 59 yards on the eight-play, 73-yard touchdown drive. He also had his first 100-yard game, catching eight of 10 balls thrown his way for 132 yards. "When the defense gives up big plays like that [52-yarder], it can kind of get down on itself," Wright said. "It helped boost us up and push them down a little bit."

2. Tight end playing right tackle

The Falcons spent most of their air time on HBO's "Hard Knocks" talking about how much tougher they want to be compared to last season. Well, if Sunday was any indication, they still have a ways to go. The Vikings clearly were the more physical team. At one point the Falcons lost two safeties to injury and were down three offensive linemen. They finished the game with backup tight end Levine Toilolo playing right tackle. "That's a first for me, man," said Vikings left defensive end Brian Robison. "For sure." Same for free safety Harrison Smith. "That was kind of interesting," Smith said. "Never heard a tight end have to report in as ineligible for most plays."

3. Playing keepaway

The last time we saw Falcons return man Devin Hester, he was running through the Buccaneers en route to an NFL record-setting 20th touchdown return. Sunday, all we saw for most of the game was Hester watching Blair Walsh's kickoffs sail out of the end zone. Walsh had six touchbacks while Hester returned just three kicks for a 20.7-yard average. He also had only one punt return for 16 yards. "I take pride in how I kick off," Walsh said. "I take pride in trying to limit a guy who is one of the all-time greats, if not the greatest of all time. We did a good job all day."

4. Rhodes: 'One of my best games'

The attitude and play of cornerback Xavier Rhodes continues to impress. After four passes defensed, he was asked if this was the best game of his career. "I would consider it one of my best games," he said. "But there is many more to come." He's right. Rhodes played well against Julio Jones, including a leaping pass defense on a deep ball late in the game. But just as impressive was a third-and-7 at the Falcons 49 earlier in the game. Rhodes was so physical with the big receiver that he knocked him out of bounds, rendering Jones out of the play, per NFL rules. "Yes, it takes him out of the play, which was the plan," Rhodes said. "He gets close to out of bounds, I'm going to play aggressive and get him out of bounds. He's a big guy, but I'm a big guy, too."

5. Jones relatively quiet, but …

Julio Jones came into the game leading the NFL in receiving yards. The Vikings held him to 82 yards on six catches. But his presence did cause a major miscommunication between cornerbacks Captain Munnerlyn and Josh Robinson. The mistake led to Roddy White being left wide open for a 24-yard touchdown that tied the score at 7-7 late in the first quarter. Jones was wide right across from Robinson. White was in the right slot across from Munnerlyn. Munnerlyn appeared to jump a route to Jones, which let White run free for an easy TD. "Me and Josh, we communicated the call," Munnerlyn said. "They faked the screen [to Jones] and we jumped the screen. It was a great play for what we had called."