EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — As the Minnesota Vikings were recently reveling in their 14th victory, a two-point triumph over rival Green Bay that only became secure when Cam Akers made a tricky third down catch, coach Kevin O'Connell was asked in his postgame news conference to elaborate on what he liked about the fifth-year running back.
“Love,” O'Connell interjected. “It's OK to use that word every now and then.”
O'Connell and the Vikings have so much appreciation of Akers they acquired him in a trade for a second time in two seasons.
“I feel the same way about him," Akers said. “My journey has been a journey. You don’t really get to run across people like K.O. who really care about the person. They care about the business as well, but they care about the person. That’s K.O. That’s who he is.”
Akers was drafted in the second round out of Florida State in 2020 by the Los Angeles Rams, who just happen to be Minnesota's opponent on Monday night in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs. He tore his Achilles tendon during the 2021 preseason, recovering in time to contribute in the playoffs for the Rams during their run to a Super Bowl title. O’Connell and Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips were Rams assistants during his first two years before O'Connell got the job in Minnesota and brought Phillips with him.
Akers started 2022 slowly and clashed with coach Sean McVay and the staff at times, sent away from the team at one point while the Rams tried to trade him. He returned after the deadline passed without a deal and ramped up his production with three straight 100-yard games to close out a dismal season for the then-reigning champions.
But Kyren Williams was placed ahead of him on the depth chart the following summer, renewing trade talks that concluded with Akers going to the Vikings in Week 3 of 2023 to add some explosiveness to a lagging running game.
He did that, but then he got hurt — again. Another torn Achilles tendon, this one on the other foot, cut short his season in Week 9. After rehabilitating the injury at a training facility near Vikings headquarters, Akers became a free agent and signed with the Houston Texans. He played against the Vikings in Week 3 and was playing for them by Week 7.
“Cam has something inside him that allowed him to push through the adversity of what’s happened to him over the course of his career. He loves football. I think he loves being a Minnesota Viking. He loves his teammates,” O'Connell said after the Vikings beat the Packers on Dec. 29 behind a touchdown reception from Akers and that key catch on a low throw from Sam Darnold to move the chains and allow them to run out the clock.
“He just brings something, brings a physicality, brings a level of mental and physical toughness that I think makes us all better. We’ve got a lot of examples like that on our team, but Cam is just another one of them that I feel very fortunate to have him on this team.”
Akers has been a capable complement in more ways than one to Aaron Jones while helping the Vikings produce a more reliable ground game this season.
“Wherever he’s at, he’s like a positive light for people. It’s a joy to have him with me, being a running mate with him, and I’ve learned a lot from him as well,” Jones said.
“When I had two fumbles in a game, he comes over there and says, ‘Hey, don’t forget why you’re here. You’re still him.’ He was like, ‘You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. I’m proud of you.’ He gave me a tap on the back and was like, ‘Go get in there and go make a play.’ After that, I scored. But that’s what great teammates do. They keep your head up when you want to drop that head. We need guys like him.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Minnesota Vikings' Cam Akers celebrates his touchdown catch during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Vikings' Cam Akers runs for a touchdown after a catch during the second half of an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, with no end in sight to the 15-month conflict.
The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames Hamas for their deaths because it says the militants operate in residential areas.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now packed into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead.
In Lebanon, the parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Here's the latest:
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need to ensure that Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the agreement and to fund the post-war rebuilding.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday. The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded.
It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but did not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in residential areas. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
On Thursday, dozens of people took part in funeral prayers outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for people killed in Israeli strikes the day before.
In the hospital morgue, a man could be seen kneeling and bidding farewell to a relative before slamming a refrigerator door in an outburst of grief.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old baby — and two women.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s interior affairs minister says a total of 52,622 refugees have returned to Syria from Turkey in the first month following Bashar Assad’s removal from power on Dec. 8.
Speaking at the Cilvegozu border crossing between Turkey and Syria on Thursday, Ali Yerlikaya said that more than 40,000 Syrians had returned with family members while some 11,000 individuals crossed into Syria alone.
“The voluntary, safe, honorable and regular returns have started to increase,” Yerlikaya said.
Turkey has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 — more than 3.8 million at its peak in 2022.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has further tightened restrictions on media coverage of the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip amid mounting concerns that soldiers could face legal action abroad.
The restrictions announced late Wednesday mainly apply to media interviews, and include a requirement that soldiers holding the rank of colonel or below only be filmed from behind and identified by their first initial. Those ranked brigadier general or above can be identified, but must receive prior guidelines.
Any filming in combat zones also must be approved by the military’s legal department.
Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza outside of embeds organized by the military.
The military recently warned soldiers against posting on social media after legal action over alleged war crimes was initiated against a soldier who was visiting Brazil.
Israel says it is operating in accordance with international law in Gaza and makes every effort to avoid harming civilians. But soldiers have posted dozens of photos and videos that appear to show them rummaging through homes and burning or blowing up residential buildings.
The military says it investigates and punishes any violations of military conduct. It says Hamas has built extensive military infrastructure in civilian areas, necessitating the demolition of buildings.
The army says it is working on additional guidelines for soldiers on what they can post to social media.
NEW YORK — Family members of Americans being held hostage in Gaza are planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Representatives for the family members said they plan to meet with officials in the incoming Trump administration and members of Congress to urge them to prioritize the safe return of the hostages.
Seven Americans are among the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Trump has sent his incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks to work on their release. The Republican president-elect has threatened Hamas by warning that “All hell will break out” if the hostages aren't released.
Israeli soldiers attend the funeral of 1st Sgt. Matityahu Ya'akov Perel, who was killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinian women look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Kareem Al-Dabaji mourns his brother Anas Al-Dabaji, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment in Deir Al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital morgue in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Lebanese lawmakers count the votes after casting their ballots to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, casts his vote to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Lebanese Parliament media office via AP)
Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian looks at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
