Akers went down late in the third quarter on Sunday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium after he was tackled awkwardly after making a catch. He left the field on his own, but was eventually carted off the field into the locker room and was quickly ruled out with an ankle injury.
The fourth-year running back had 25 rushing yards on eight carries when he went down, and had 13 receiving yards on three catches. Assuming the MRI confirms his injury, Akers will finish the year with 142 rushing yards, 57 receiving yards and two total touchdowns.
Akers was traded to the Vikings by the Rams in September in exchange for a future pick swap. The 24-year-old played in the Rams’ season opener this fall, but was a healthy scratch until the team traded him. Akers had a career-high 786 yards and seven touchdowns last season, his third in the league after the Rams took him with the No. 52 overall pick in 2020. He’s in the final year of his initial four-year, $6.17 million deal.
The Achilles injury would be the second one a major Vikings offensive player has sustained in as many weeks. Quarterback Kirk Cousins went down with the same injury last week, which ended his season. That paved the way for Joshua Dobbs, who replaced rookie Jaren Hall after he sustained a concussion in the first quarter, to lead the Vikings on the comeback.
Dobbs, who was traded to Minnesota on Tuesday from the Arizona Cardinals, led the Vikings on an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that put them up with just 22 seconds left and eventually gave them the 31-28 win. Dobbs finished 20-of-30 for 158 yards passing with two touchdowns. He was also the Vikings’ leading rusher with 66 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.
Minnesota has now won four straight and five of its last six. The Vikings will host the New Orleans Saints next week. With Akers down, Alexander Mattison will likely take the bulk of the carries for Minnesota. He had 44 rushing yards on 16 carries on Sunday, and has 390 rushing yards this season.
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NFL Winners and Losers: Maybe this is the season Lamar Jackson can make a playoff run
Lamar Jackson has started 70 regular-season games. The Baltimore Ravens have won 52 of them, a winning percentage of 74.3%. To put that in perspective, among quarterbacks with 200 career starts only Tom Brady’s teams had a better winning percentage and not by much. Brady’s winning percentage was 74.9%.
That’s great and all, but it doesn’t erase another number: 25%. That’s the Ravens’ winning percentage in the playoffs with Jackson as a starter.
NFL quarterbacks aren’t judged by how many games they win in the regular season. A few quarterbacks have overcome a lack of a championship to be considered among the all-time greats. Dan Marino, Dan Fouts and Warren Moon come to mind. But it’s rare.
Maybe this is the season Jackson changes that part of his story. The Baltimore Ravens again looked like one of the best teams in the NFL, handily beating the NFC West-leading Seattle Seahawks, 37-3. It was about as impressive as beating the NFC North-leading Detroit Lions 38-6 a couple weeks ago, another sign that Baltimore has an argument as the best team in football.
As with any great quarterback, it’s not just Jackson leading the way for the Ravens. Gus Edwards continued his hot streak with a couple of touchdowns. Undrafted rookie running back Keaton Mitchell emerged with a 100-yard game. Baltimore ran for 298 yards.
The Ravens’ defense is superbly coached and had another big day in shutting down a Seahawks offense that has dangerous players all over the field. Baltimore outgained Seattle 515-151, and keep in mind that Seattle is a first-place team that was 5-2 before Sunday. Head coach John Harbaugh has put together a Hall of Fame résumé and without any sign-stealing schemes.
And Jackson has been very good all season, as usual. He seems to be getting more comfortable in a new offensive scheme that highlights his passing ability. Jackson came into Sunday’s game with a completion percentage above 70, something he’s never done over a full season. He had a passer rating above 100, which would be the second time for him in his career. The other time he won MVP. Jackson didn’t have a huge game Sunday but mostly because the Ravens didn’t need it. The Seahawks weren’t competitive enough to force the Ravens into passing.
BAL – RB
BAL – RB
Jackson might win MVP again. He’s in the argument, though mostly because nobody else is running away with it. But that doesn’t matter. Regular-season wins don’t matter much either. The reason the Ravens paid Jackson $260 million was to win a Super Bowl. That’s the only thing that will significantly change Jackson’s legacy. The Ravens keep showing they have the type of team that can get him there.
Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 9 of the NFL season:
WINNERS
C.J. Stroud: The Houston Texans had a day they’ll remember for a long time. When Coleridge Bernard Stroud IV wins an NFL MVP someday — let’s be honest, it looks like he’s on that path — Texans fans will remember Sunday as one of the biggest steps toward his superstardom.
Stroud rallied the Texans to a go-ahead touchdown, hitting Tank Dell with six seconds left to lift Houston to a 39-37 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Stroud threw for 470 yards, breaking Andrew Luck’s record for most passing yards in a game by a rookie, and five touchdowns.
Stroud has already arrived as a star. Sunday will be a hallmark day in his career and the Texans’ history. Houston has its franchise quarterback.
Jordan Love, for at least a week: Love is already on the hot seat as Green Bay Packers quarterback. The team has let it be known the final 10 games of the season will be very important for his future.
Love wasn’t great Sunday and the Los Angeles Rams didn’t put up much of a fight, but at least it was a step forward for the besieged QB.
Love was solid in the Packers’ 20-3 win over the Rams. He had 228 yards and a touchdown. The Rams were without Matthew Stafford and backup Brett Rypien was bad, but Green Bay can’t be picky. Neither can Love. His touchdown in the fourth quarter to tight end Luke Musgrave sealed up the win.
It’s not a game that will convince the Packers that Love is the permanent answer. But it wasn’t bad.
Sam Howell: He has had his low points as Washington Commanders quarterback this season, but he’s making progress.
Howell followed up a 397-yard game against the Philadelphia Eagles with 325 yards against a Bill Belichick defense on the road in a 20-17 win over the New England Patriots. The Commanders held on when Mac Jones’ pass went through JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hands in the final minute and was picked off.
Washington will have to make a lot of important decisions based on what happens in the second half of the season. Howell continues to make his case to be the team’s quarterback next season and perhaps beyond.
Kansas City Chiefs defense: While the Miami Dolphins continued their “the lights are too bright!” routine against good teams, the Chiefs’ defense will probably continue to be the most overlooked part of the NFL season.
The Chiefs took on a Dolphins offense that everyone wants to compare to the Greatest Show on Turf and shut them out in the first half. The defense made the play of the game, a strip of Tyreek Hill that turned into a lateral and a touchdown just before halftime. One of Miami’s two touchdown drives was a 27-yarder after a fumble. And while Tua Tagovailoa helped the Chiefs out in the final minutes by air-balling a throw on third down and fumbling a snap on fourth down, Kansas City got the stop it needed to clinch a 21-14 win.
We’re still waiting for a Chiefs offense that didn’t score in the second half to come around. But these days Kansas City is being carried by a top-10 defense. That’s a big change.
LOSERS
Jaren Hall: Hall, a fifth-round rookie quarterback, was promised only one start for the Minnesota Vikings. The team traded for Joshua Dobbs, who will presumably take over as the starter in place of Kirk Cousins. But Hall got one start to show what he could do.
It lasted less than a quarter. Hall took a hard hit and was ruled out with a concussion. Dobbs had to come in, just days after he was acquired in a trade. Dobbs had a fantastic performance considering he had been with the Vikings only a few days, leading a last-minute 31-28 win over the Atlanta Falcons. There’s no reason for the Vikings, who are in playoff contention at 5-4, to not start him next week against the New Orleans Saints. It was an impressive game for Dobbs, a big win for the Vikings and a rough way for Hall to end his first NFL start.
Hall might get more starts as his career goes on, but that’s not guaranteed. He was good in his limited time, completing 5 of 6 passes for 78 yards. But it had to be crushing to get an unexpected shot and have it end so quickly.
Bad quarterback play: There were plenty of backups playing Sunday, and we’ll use Clayton Tune as the prime example of what happens when starters are hurt.
Tune, a fifth-round draft pick, got his first start as the Arizona Cardinals continue to slow play Kyler Murray’s return. Tune didn’t resemble an NFL quarterback. At the end of three quarters he was 6-of-17 for 27 yards against the Cleveland Browns. Tune didn’t even try to throw it downfield. He was sacked seven times, threw two interceptions and had a 20.8 passer rating in a 27-0 loss. There was plenty of bad football in the early games Sunday and the Cardinals led that list.
Murray should return soon and the Cardinals should be more watchable with him. It can’t be worse.
Tyson Bagent: Bagent might not be the Chicago Bears’ quarterback after Sunday. Justin Fields has a chance to return to the lineup Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers.
Bagent did some good things replacing Fields, especially as an undrafted rookie from Division II Shepherd. But he also has a lot of things to clean up. Bagent threw three interceptions in the Bears’ 24-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints. The Saints didn’t play that well and the Bears had a shot at the win, but Bagent couldn’t do enough to lead Chicago to victory.
Bagent will get other chances. His first stint as a starter was mostly positive, and it might be a while before he gets a shot to develop further.
