The Minnesota Vikings ruled out star receiver Justin Jefferson for Sunday's game against the Dolphins because of an ankle sprain suffered last week against Tampa Bay, and Miami will be without rookie receiver Caleb Douglas for a second straight game as he continues nursing an ankle injury.
Jefferson suffered the injury in the first quarter of Minnesota's Week 3 win against the Buccaneers and missed practice this week.
The two-time All-Pro receiver watched from the sideline for a couple of series before walking to the locker room midway through the second quarter. It appeared Jefferson got hurt when a defender fell onto his right ankle.
“He's definitely feeling better,” Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell said Friday, adding the team is hopeful that Jefferson may practice next week. “I think we're encouraged about where he's at but just couldn't get there.”
Jefferson has 13 catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns through three games.
Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said Friday that Douglas and defensive end Robert Beal Jr. (hamstring) will miss Sunday's game at Minnesota, but Miami will have veteran center Aaron Brewer, who appeared on Thursday's injury report with a hand issue.
“He’s in every meeting, and he’s got to stay locked in, and he’s got to watch practice, watch the practice tape, and stay on top of it," Hafley said of Douglas missing what could be valuable reps early in the season, "because what we don’t want to have happen is when he gets back — and hopefully that’s soon — that he takes a step back mentally. He’s doing a good job, he’s a mature guy.”
Douglas, who has seven receptions for 117 yards in two games, has not practiced the past two weeks after suffering the injury in the second half of a loss at San Francisco. He was one of the standouts in the preseason and was expected to emerge as one of the top targets for quarterback Malik Willis.
With Douglas sidelined, fellow rookie Chris Bell, who has still been ramping up from a knee injury suffered last year, had four receptions for 64 yards in last week's loss to Kansas City. Receiver Malik Washington had five catches for 56 yards, and tight end Greg Dulcich added five catches for 55 yards.
Hafley said he wants to see improvement in the timing and rhythm with Willis' connection with his young receiving corps.
“For this team, right now where we’re at with the youth, with guys playing together, it’s ‘Can I trust the guy next to me to do his job precisely and be where he’s supposed to be every single play over and over again,'" Hafley said. "And we’ve seen glimpses of that. And then we’ve seen where we’re just a little bit off here and a little bit off here.'”
Running back Jaylen Wright is expected to return after missing last week with a stinger and foot injury. The Dolphins will lean on the third-year running back a lot more going forward after losing Pro Bowler De'Von Achane to a season-ending ACL tear. Wright and third-stringer Ollie Gordon will see increased roles, and the Dolphins will elevate one of their practice squad running backs, either Carlos Washington Jr. or Jarquez Hunter, for Sunday's game.
Also Friday, Hafley said second-year defensive tackle Kenneth Grant could return to practice next week after beginning the season on injured reserve because of a lower body injury.
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Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) catches a pass for a first down as Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jacob Parrish (25) defends during the first half of an NFL football game in Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Jason Behnken)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — This week's attack on a pilot by a co-pilot who tried to crash a Tel Aviv-bound flight left the region's travel industry in crisis Friday, raising questions about aviation security and further unsettling a Middle East already shaken by the U.S.-Iran war.
Nothing is publicly known about the motive of the co-pilot, who came close to crashing the aircraft and killing all 182 people aboard Wednesday’s FlyDubai flight from Dubai. A regional investigation is underway.
The United Arab Emirates has canceled all flights to Israel, complicating travel for hundreds of passengers who fly between the countries on a typical day. Israel and the UAE agreed on repatriation flights, beginning Friday, to bring back passengers stranded in the UAE after commercial travel between the two countries was suspended, according to an Israeli official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The first repatriation flight left the UAE shortly before 11 p.m. and landed in Tel Aviv just after 1 a.m., according to the Ben Gurion International Airport website.
The airport listed carriers Arkia and Israir with flights scheduled to arrive from Dubai early Saturday. El Al was expected to fly passengers from Dubai to Israel on Sunday.
Dubai has been a popular destination for Israelis since Israel and the UAE established ties in 2020 as part of the Trump administration's Abraham Accords to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his claim on Friday that the co-pilot, identified by Israeli officials as an Omani citizen, had undergone "Islamist radicalization" but provided no evidence to back the assertion.
“We are now investigating whether he was sent, and whoever sent him will pay a very heavy price,” Netanyahu said in a video message.
U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that early information he's received suggests links between the attack and Tehran but did not elaborate. Trump also said that if it is determined that Iranian agents were behind the attack, the United States will “hit them very hard.”
Israeli investigators are involved in the probe but the Emiratis are in the lead, according to an official who wasn’t authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s unclear if the attacker was part of a group, said the official, adding that there is currently no evidence of a link with Iran.
UAE senior diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash on Friday called the FlyDubai attack a “dangerous terrorist act” in a post on X. He credited the flight captain for preventing a catastrophe.
The moment is a test for the UAE government, which has burnished a reputation for building effective measures against extremist activities but has also bristled in the past over criticism of security lapses.
“The Emiratis are going to be interested in protecting their reputation,” said Jon Alterman, chair of Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “They believe people should see them as a place that’s very secure, not a place that has serious lapses.”
Details of the harrowing flight, which made an emergency landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, continue to emerge.
Smit Machchhar, the wounded captain who has been hailed as one of the heroes of the flight, and the co-pilot were transferred on Thursday from Saudi Arabia to the UAE, the kingdom said.
Machchhar is recovering in an Abu Dhabi hospital. He spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised video call Friday, describing the terror he faced after being attacked in the closed cockpit.
“I had so many wounds. I had fallen down,” he said, his head bandaged, as he broke into sobs. “I was fighting for my life. At one point, I realized that if I didn’t get up … then passengers would lose their lives.”
The first signs of trouble came more than two hours into the flight when the aircraft suddenly dropped to 16,600 feet — the sharpest altitude drop recorded by data tracking platforms. But moments before the nosedive, passengers seated near the front of the plane heard sounds of a fight inside the cockpit, said passenger Daniel Schlichter, who was seated in the second row.
Seconds later, it ascended to 21,725 feet before soon dropping back to 15,000 feet, which it maintained until safely landing more than an hour later.
“The plane started going down very quickly and we all went back backwards, like the gravity took us backwards,” Schlichter said. The shouting of the children as the plane plummeted, he added, was “horrific.”
“One of the things that I will never forget is the shouting of the children,” Schlichter said. “I could hear the children shouting, ‘We don’t want to die! We don’t want to die!’ ”
The captain managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to enter and restrain the attacker as the Boeing 737 — with 174 passengers and eight crew members, most of them Israelis — descended sharply.
The passengers wrestled the co-pilot from the cockpit and onto the floor of the main cabin where they bound his hands with headphones. They laid the wounded pilot inches from him, and a dentist attended to his wounds. Schlichter and the dentist, Dr. Shota Musayev, both said there was no visible knife or other weapon at the front of the aircraft.
“I could see all the blood on the floor, and I couldn’t believe he would still be alive because he had so many injuries,” Schlichter said of the captain.
Madhani reported from Jerusalem. AP writers Sally Abou AlJoud in Brussels, Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank, Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed reporting.
People disembark from a FlyDubai carrying Israeli passengers who had earlier been aboard another FlyDubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia approaches Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli passenger Asaf Rajuan, right, who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, during a flight on a FlyDubai plane, hugs another passenger from the same flight as they arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Passengers who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, during a flight on FlyDubai plane, arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
