MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kyler Murray became a superstar athlete as a kid growing up in Texas, won the Heisman Trophy with Oklahoma, was the first overall pick by Arizona in the NFL draft in 2019, and made the Pro Bowl after his second and third seasons in the league.
Since then, with a floundering Cardinals team and two major lower-body injuries contributing to the slide, Murray's career has veered off course. He can't hide it: His first game as quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday afternoon will be a big deal for him.
“Out of how many years I’ve played football, this has got to be right up there for most anticipated. I can’t tell you how ready I am and excited to be on the field again,” said Murray, who was sidelined last October by a foot injury and cut by the Cardinals in March.
The storyline gets even better: The Vikings host the division rival Green Bay Packers, and their new defensive coordinator is Jonathan Gannon, who was Murray's head coach in Arizona the last three years.
“He’s in a really good offense with some elite players. Obviously I’ve got nothing but love and respect for ‘K1,’ Gannon said, using Murray's longtime nickname. ”He’s competitive. He’s smart. He can make all the throws and beat you with his legs, so it's a big-time challenge."
The first-hand experience Gannon had with Murray ought to help the Packers, whose previous defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, became head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
“Obviously he’s a playmaker. You know that,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “He can extend plays with his feet, and we also know he can make the throws down the field as well.”
After a severe regression last season while J.J. McCarthy struggled to stay healthy and in rhythm during his debut, Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell is more than eager to get his passing game back on track. Murray's frequent connections with star wide receiver Justin Jefferson during training camp provided some promise.
“What surprised me is his arm talent and him being able to come out here and lead the guys every single day in practice and being vocal and being more of a leader than I’ve seen,” Jefferson said. “It’s really cool seeing him step up into a role that we really needed him to be in.”
Green Bay (9-8-1) at Minnesota (9-8)
When/where to watch: Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EDT, CBS
Latest odds: Vikings by 1½
Last meeting: Vikings beat Packers 16-3 on Jan. 4, 2026, in Minneapolis
Series record: Packers lead 67-61-3.
Green Bay's running game vs. Minnesota's defensive front. The Packers will play without three-time Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs, who's on hiatus while a case of alleged domestic violence moves through the court system and the league discipline process. Everyone else on the roster is unproven, with MarShawn Lloyd atop the depth chart for now. The Vikings have a young defensive line led by Jalen Redmond, after dumping veterans Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave in favor of Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and Levi Drake Rodriguez. The interior trio has just 20 career starts combined, with Redmond accounting for 17.
— The Packers are opening against an NFC North opponent for the fourth time in five years, including 2022 at Minnesota. They're on a five-game losing streak, including the wild-card round playoff loss at Chicago.
— Packers quarterback Jordan Love is 1-1 as a starter in his career at U.S. Bank Stadium, totaling four touchdowns and no interceptions on 43-for-63 passing for 441 yards. The Packers won in 2023 and lost in 2024 on the road against the Vikings.
— Green Bay must also play without All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons, whose knee surgery recovery will keep him out at least four games. The Packers went 9-3-1 with Parsons on the field last season and were winning at Denver in the second half when he went down on Dec. 14.
— Hargrave signed with Green Bay after his release by the Vikings and will start inside along with Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt. Hargrave had two of his 3½ sacks last season in the opener at Chicago.
— Murray is 0-2 in his career against the Packers, losing at home in 2021 and at Green Bay in 2024. He totaled 488 yards on 44-for-65 passing with one touchdown and two interceptions.
— Running back Aaron Jones returns for his third season with the Vikings and his 10th in the NFL, listed as a co-starter with Jordan Mason. Jones played his first seven years with the Packers.
— Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman had a career-high 144 tackles last season and was one of two players in the league with four games of at least 15 tackles.
— Vikings safety Harrison Smith re-signed with the team this week for a 15th season.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur talks to defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon during the second half of a preseason NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray walks on the field before a preseason NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
ADEN, Yemen (AP) — The Iran-backed Houthi rebel group on Thursday took over Yemen’s port city of Mokha, an area vital to controlling shipping through the Red Sea, Houthi and Yemeni officials said.
The takeover gives Iran another potential point of leverage in its war with the U.S., analysts said, if the Houthis use their presence in Mokha to ramp up threats or attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Mokha is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a waterway that connects the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and through which about 12% of the world’s goods are typically shipped.
The Bab el-Mandeb's importance to global oil supplies has grown since shipping through the nearby Strait of Hormuz has been impeded by Iran during its war with the United States and Israel.
The Houthis kept mostly to the sidelines when the Iran war began, but over the summer the rebels increased attacks against Yemen's internationally recognized government and declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia, which supports it. While the Houthis have their own reasons for fighting the Saudis, the conflict also serves Iran’s interests by ramping up pressure on the American-allied oil producer as Tehran seeks leverage against the U.S.
The Houthis' takeover of Mokha was confirmed to The Associated Press by Ahmed Baash, a commander with the National Resistance Forces allied with Yemen’s government, and Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau.
Mokha represents the Houthis' biggest territorial gain since a truce was signed in 2022 to end a civil war that began more than a decade ago. A return to full-scale civil war would be devastating for the Yemeni people and potentially for world energy supplies.
The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels swept down from their mountainous heartland and seized much of northern and central Yemen. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.
Residents of Mokha told AP that Houthi forces could be seen throughout the city Thursday and that markets were shuttered. Mokha was long held by forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
Mokha resident Amin al-Mohammdi said roads from the west coast leading to Mokha were closed and shops were shuttered. Resident Mohamed Salem said he saw vehicles belonging to Houthi forces in the streets.
Three doctors told the AP they fled a Mokha hospital after it was seized by the Houthis. The doctors spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears for their safety. They said other residents were fleeing south, toward the city of Aden, which is controlled by the Saudi-backed forces.
The Houthis recently made advances in the western province of Taiz, where Mokha is located, according to Ahmed al-Mawazi, a trooper with the Yemeni armed forces, and Abdel Kader al-Sharabi, a member of the Saudi-backed forces supporting the Yemeni government.
Both said the rebels had seized control of the al-Shaqira area in Taiz, an important supply route for Yemeni government forces in south Hodeida.
The mountainous terrain around Taiz gives the Houthis a strategic area overlooking Yemen’s west coast, said Baraa Shiban, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. The Houthis could potentially make shipping in the Red Sea more hazardous by laying mines in the water, similar to what Iran’s Revolutionary Guard did in the Strait of Hormuz, Shiban said.
The Houthis’ advance on Mokha potentially gives Iran leverage in its negotiations with the U.S., said Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House specializing in Yemen and the Gulf.
Shipping through the Bab al Mandeb has fallen by about 60% since the Houthis began attacking ships there in late 2023, prompting many companies to abandon the route. It briefly increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to Hormuz; Saudi oil shipments were redirected via pipeline to the Red Sea port at Yanbu, but “renewed Houthi threats have curtailed” that activity, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
“This renewed war should alarm us all,” the U.N. special envoy for Yemen warned at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
"It effectively marks the end of the relative calm that Yemen has experienced for over four years since the U.N.-brokered truce,” said the envoy, Hans Grundberg. He called on the international community to address this “new and more dangerous phase – one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen’s borders.”
Yemen’s U.N. Ambassador Abdullah Al-Saadi said a single Yemen state with a monopoly on weapons that has sovereignty throughout the country which the government is seeking is “a fundamental guarantee” for security for Yemen, Sandia Arabia and the region.
He called on the Security Council to condemn the Houthis’ military escalation and to implement measures "prohibiting the supply of arms, components, technology, and military expertise to the militia” which are fueling the conflict.
Saudi U.N. Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said that the kingdom remains supportive of peace in Yemen but that it would “take all measures necessary to deter Houthi attacks.”
Alwasil warned that “the kingdom’s commitment to de-escalation and to supporting a political solution must not be allowed to become an opportunity that this militia exploits to continue its attacks and to threaten the security of the kingdom and the region.”
At the U.N. meeting, U.S. Minister Counselor Jenifer Neidhart warned that those who enable the escalation of Houthi attacks “bear responsibility for its consequences.” Neidhart called for stronger implementation of U.N. sanctions against the militants to cut off "the resources that sustain their acts of terrorism.”
Yemeni government forces have launched airstrikes targeting Houthi reinforcements west of Taiz, several residents of Mokha said, and the Yemeni government military has urged civilians to avoid roads between Taiz and Mokha.
Houthi-controlled Al-Masirah TV claimed that Saudi-backed forces launched 40 airstrikes in recent hours in Taiz, Jawf, Hodeida and Marib provinces. The AP couldn’t independently verify the claim. There was no immediate comment from the government forces.
Khaled reported from Cairo. AP writers David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Yemen's Houthi rebels march during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
A Yemen's Houthi rebel chews Qat as he marches during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
A fighter with Yemen’s Houthi rebels carries a rocket-propelled grenade launcher as they march during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
Yemen's Houthi rebels gather during a mobilization campaign in Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (AP Photo)
