EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy reported soreness in his right knee and was held out of practice on Monday night to undergo further examination.
Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said the team didn't have reason to believe McCarthy was experiencing any problem beyond routine soreness, but O'Connell said he wasn't sure yet whether McCarthy would travel this week for joint practices with Cleveland on Wednesday and Thursday and the preseason game against the Browns on Saturday.
“It was something we want to be smart about at this point,” O'Connell said.
McCarthy was slated for increased turns this week with the first-team offense. Sam Darnold has been atop the depth chart so far. McCarthy, the 10th overall pick in the draft out of national champion Michigan, had 188 yards, two touchdowns and one interception on 11-for-17 passing in his preseason debut against Las Vegas.
The Vikings also hosted free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore for a visit on Monday, continuing their persistence with potential upgrades to a thin position. The 2019 AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year with New England and five-time Pro Bowl pick has been with four teams in the past four seasons. The 33-year-old has gone unsigned since playing for Dallas in 2023 and becoming a free agent.
“We’re very proud of the atmosphere, our locker room, our players,” O'Connell said. "I think it's a positive to give guys a sneak preview of what they might be joining.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) looks to hand off during the first half of an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell, right, hugs quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) before an NFL football game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) throws against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first half of an NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bruce Kluckhohn)
BEIRUT (AP) — An Israeli strike on Beirut on Friday killed at least three people and wounded more than a dozen others, Lebanese health officials said, the first Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital in months that came after Hezbollah pounded northern Israel with rockets.
Israel announced the strike, but didn't immediately specify the target in Beirut's crowded southern suburbs, where Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group holds sway.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that at least three people were killed and 17 others wounded as local networks broadcast footage of wounded people being pulled from the ruins of a flattened building and ambulances rushing to the scene of the strike.
The strike in Dahiyeh, just kilometers from downtown Beirut, hit during rush hour, as people were leaving work and students headed home from school.
The escalation came as the region awaited the revenge promised by the militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, for this week’s mass bombing attack on pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members.
Israel's rare strike on the Beirut suburbs came after Hezbollah pounded Israel with 140 rockets, which the Israeli military said came in three waves targeting sites along the ravaged border with Lebanon.
Following the attacks, the Israeli military said that it had struck areas across southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, but didn’t provide details of damage.
Hezbollah said that its attacks had targeted several sites along the border with Katyusha rockets, including multiple air defense bases as well as the headquarters of an Israeli armored brigade they said they’d struck for the first time.
The Israeli military said that 120 missiles were launched at areas of the Golan Heights, Safed and the Upper Galilee, some of which were intercepted. Fire crews were working to extinguish blazes caused by pieces of debris that fell to the ground in several areas, the military said.
The military didn’t say whether any missiles had hit targets or caused any casualties.
Another 20 missiles were shot at the areas of Meron and Netua, and most fell in open areas, the military said, adding that no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah said that the rockets were in retaliation for Israeli strikes on villages and homes in southern Lebanon, not two days of attacks widely blamed on Israel that set off explosives in thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies.
On Thursday, Israel said its military had struck “hundreds of rocket launcher barrels” in southern Lebanon, saying that they “were ready to be used in the immediate future to fire toward Israeli territory.”
The army also ordered residents in parts of the Golan Heights and northern Israel to avoid public gatherings, minimize movements and stay close to shelters in anticipation of the rocket fire that eventually came Friday.
Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged near-daily fire since Oct. 8, a day after the Israel-Hamas war’s opening salvo, but Friday’s rocket barrages were heavier than normal.
Nasrallah on Thursday vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week’s deadly sabotage of its members’ communication devices, which he described as a “severe blow.”
At least 20 were killed in the attacks and thousands were wounded when pagers, walkie-talkies and other devices exploded in Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The sophisticated attacks have heightened fears that the cross-border exchanges of fire will escalate into all-out war. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attacks.
In recent days, Israel has moved a powerful fighting force up to the northern border, officials have escalated their rhetoric, and the country’s security Cabinet has designated the return of tens of thousands of displaced residents to their homes in northern Israel an official war goal.
Fighting in Gaza has slowed, but casualties continue to rise.
Overnight, Palestinian authorities said that 15 people were killed in multiple Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Those included six people, including an unknown number of children, in an airstrike early Friday morning in Gaza City that hit a family home, Gaza’s Civil Defense said. Another person was killed in Gaza City when a strike hit a group of people on a street.
Israel maintains that it only targets militants, and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military, which rarely comments on individual strikes, had no immediate comment.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says that more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count, but says a little over half of those killed were women and children.
Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
More than 95,000 people have also been wounded in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry said.
The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.
A woman checks the scene of a missile strike from her damaged house in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Rescuers carry a body at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Ambulances arrive at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
People stand on top of a damaged car at the scene of a missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People and rescuers gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather near a damaged building at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
People gather at the scene of an Israeli missile strike in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket fired from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
