1. Skirmish? Must be Herrera If there's a skirmish involving the offensive line, you can pretty much bet that right guard Anthony Herrera (right) is in the middle of it. Vikings offensive line coach Jeff Davidson doesn't condone fighting, but he loves the feistiness with which Herrera plays. That attitude usually boils over about once a game. Sunday, it came on the Vikings' third offensive snap of the game. "Just playing football," Herrera said with a smile. Herrera said the Cardinals "didn't like the way I finished my block all the way to the whistle." Pushing and shoving ensued. "They jumped me," Herrera said. "Then my boys like [Steve Hutchinson] jumped in to help." Herrera, an undrafted rookie in 2004, said his attitude comes from having never been handed anything. "It's the way I grew up, man," he said. "I never grew up with anything. Whatever I got, I had to take so I could make a better life for myself. So I go to the whistle, man. If people don't like that, so be it."

2. Pass rush and coverage unite The Vikings' pass coverage and pass rush meshed well Sunday. On one third-and-7 play, cornerback Chris Cook blanketed receiver Larry Fitzgerald, leaving quarterback Kevin Kolb nowhere to go before being dropped by Jared Allen for an 18-yard loss. Later, Fitzgerald sneaked open on second-and-13 from the Vikings 21-yard line. "They ran that fake bubble screen and he was wide open on that one," Cook said. "The quarterback didn't even look at him. The quarterback looked at the bubble screen, and I think he thought we had it covered. Then he looked away and that's when [Allen] sacked him."

3. Welcome to the NFL, D'Imperio He's not exactly Rudy, but he's close. After spending his first 20 NFL games on the Vikings practice squad, fullback Ryan D'Imperio played in his first regular-season game Sunday. A linebacker at Rutgers, D'Imperio was signed off the practice squad this week. He did well while helping the offensive line pave the way for 172 yards, four touchdowns and a 4.6-yard average on 37 rushes. "The highlight I would say was my second play in the game," D'Imperio said. "AP [Adrian Peterson] scores on a 24-yard touchdown run. I took out the linebacker on that one and then got to go meet AP in the end zone. That was cool."

4. Longwell streak ends at 16 Kicker Ryan Longwell was going for a career-best 17th consecutive field goal made when he hooked a 43-yarder wide left early in the fourth quarter. Holder Chris Kluwe tried to take the blame for the miss, but Longwell said it was a kick he should have made. "I guess 16 in a row is my number," Longwell said. "So I'll try again. I'm at one." Longwell made a 53-yarder later in the game. "Not a bad way to start another try at 17 in a row," Longwell said. Longwell has made 52 of 56 field goals (92.9 percent) the past three years.

5. 0-5 backbreaker It's easy to say after a victory, but Cook hinted that an 0-5 record would have left the locker room too deflated to bounce back from. "0-5 and heading to Chicago?" Cook said. "I don't know about that. I don't know what the mentality of the locker room would have been on that one."