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Hand injury latest ailment for Vikes QB McCarthy

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Hand injury latest ailment for Vikes QB McCarthy


EAGAN, Minn. — The Minnesota Vikings are embarking on another round of injury evaluation for quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who did not play in the second half of Sunday’s 16-13 victory over the New York Giants because of a hand injury.

X-rays on the hand were negative, coach Kevin O’Connell said, but McCarthy was scheduled for further testing Monday. The Vikings have a short week of preparation before their next game, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon against the Detroit Lions.

The tight turnaround raises the possibility that McCarthy will miss his seventh game of the season because of a third different injury. A high right ankle sprain cost him five games earlier this season and he sat out a sixth while in concussion protocol. He missed all of his rookie season in 2024 because of a torn meniscus in his right knee.

“It’s a bummer just because I’m having a blast coaching him,” O’Connell said, “and seeing the growth of a young player getting the opportunity to actually go out there and grow and develop. And I’ve been so proud of the way, really these last few weeks, he’s come back and just really shown some growth. So, you’d love to have him. Love to have him for two straight home games to finish [the season] and we’ll see where his hand’s at, and if he has the ability to play for us again. I sure hope so.”

McCarthy was wearing a latex glove on the hand in the postgame locker room. The Vikings said he was unavailable for comment.

McCarthy had produced his two best games of the season in wins over the Washington Commanders and Dallas Cowboys, producing a combined 82.1 QBR that ranked fifth in the NFL over that period. His performance Sunday was a bit more uneven. O’Connell praised his decision-making, but his accuracy was less consistent, and his receivers struggled to corral some of his throws.

Jordan Addison dropped a touchdown pass in the first quarter and Jalen Nailor let another throw bounce off him for an interception. Overall, McCarthy completed 9 of 14 passes for 108 yards. He did not throw for a touchdown but staked the Vikings to a 13-3 lead in the second quarter with a 12-yard scoring run.

At some point prior to that score, McCarthy had suffered the injury. O’Connell said he did not know exactly when it happened and did not think that McCarthy did, either. Video review showed that two plays before the touchdown, McCarthy hit hand on the helmet of Giants defensive lineman Ray Robertson-Harris. In Week 10, McCarthy bruised his right hand in a similar manner. He did not miss any game time for that injury but wore protective padding for the ensuing two weeks.

McCarthy did not mention Sunday’s injury to coaches or medical staff on the sideline, but it grew evident on the next series. With 25 seconds remaining in the half, O’Connell called a quick receiver screen play. But McCarthy did not throw the ball, allowing unblocked Giants linebacker Brian Burns to sack him and force a fumble. Safety Tyler Nubin recovered and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown.

“The ball needs to be thrown right away,” O’Connell said, “and he knows that. He had done it already in the game. And if you do hold it on a receiver perimeter screen, the backside defensive end is coming and he knows that. So, I haven’t seen [replays] yet, but my guess is he could not grip the football.”

When an athletic trainer began examining the hand on the sideline, McCarthy grimaced in pain, pulled his arm away and walked to the Vikings’ locker room.

“It sucks,” right tackle Brian O’Neill said of McCarthy suffering another injury. “With the strides he’s made the last few weeks, and even months, you hate to see it. The growth and trajectory that he’s been on recently has been fun to play with. It’s fun to be a part of. And that’s another one of the reasons why you see guys fighting through things to be able to play is because they want to be a part of it and we want to be out with him. Fingers crossed is not too bad.”

Backup Max Brosmer played the second half, completing seven of nine passes for 52 yards. Brosmer would start Thursday against the Lions if McCarthy is unavailable.

The Vikings suffered two other significant injuries in the game. Running back Jordan Mason suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter and did not return, and center Ryan Kelly was placed into concussion protocol.

Kelly was on injured reserve for nearly two months this season after suffering concussions in Weeks 2 and 4. Sunday’s concussion is the sixth in his NFL career.

“We’re all just hoping and really just thinking about him,” O’Connell said.

O’Connell said he wanted to review the play that Kelly was injured on because “I don’t know where the contact could have come from in the normal rhythm of a play like that.”

Several Vikings players had “concerns” about the way Kelly was injured, O’Connell said, but he would not elaborate. Video of the play showed Kelly colliding with Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke, who was attempting to fill a hole.



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Ice dance will incorporate queer culture unlike in any other Olympics

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Officials asked teams to open their millennial playlists and skate their first program to music from the ’90s.



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Scotland became the first team to score the most runs in the World Cup 2026 – SUCH TV

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Scotland became the first team to score the most runs in the World Cup 2026 – SUCH TV



Scotland scored 207 runs against Italy in the seventh match of the ICC T20 World Cup

Scotland has set a target of 208 runs for Italy to win, Scotland has become the first team to score more than 200 runs in the T20 World Cup.

George Munsey stood out for Scotland by scoring 84 runs, George Munsey’s innings included 13 fours and 2 sixes.

Brendan McMullen scored 41 runs off 19 balls with the help of 4 sixes, Thomas, JJ Smits, Grant Stewart and Hasan took one wicket each for Italy.

Scotland scored 207 runs for the loss of four wickets in the stipulated twenty overs and gave Italy a target of 208 runs.



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Lindsey Vonn crashes at Olympics, has surgery on broken leg

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Lindsey Vonn crashes at Olympics, has surgery on broken leg


Lindsey Vonn‘s defiant bid to win the Winter Olympic downhill at the age of 41, on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee, ended Sunday in a frightening crash that left her with a broken leg and saw her taken to safety by a rescue helicopter for the second time in nine days.

Vonn lost control within seconds of leaving the start house, clipping a gate with her right shoulder and pinwheeling down the slope before ending up awkwardly on her back, her skis crisscrossed below her and her screams ringing out soon after medical personnel arrived.

She was treated for long, anguished minutes as a hush fell over the crowd waiting far below at the finish line. Vonn was strapped to a gurney and flown away, possibly ending the skier’s storied career. As medical staff attended to Vonn, she could be heard crying out.

Vonn was taken to a clinic in Cortina then transferred to a larger hospital in Treviso, a two-hour drive to the south. She was being “treated by a multidisciplinary team” and “underwent an orthopedic operation to stabilize a fracture reported in her left leg,” the Ca’ Foncello hospital said in a statement.

The U.S. ski team said in an earlier statement that Vonn was “in stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians.”

“She’ll be OK, but it’s going to be a bit of a process,” said Anouk Patty, chief of sport for U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “This sport’s brutal, and people need to remember when they’re watching [that] these athletes are throwing themselves down a mountain and going really, really fast.”

Breezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for the team.

“I don’t claim to know what she’s going through, but I do know what it is to be here, to be fighting for the Olympics and to have this course burn you and to watch those dreams die,” said Johnson, whose own injury in Cortina in 2022 ruined her hopes of skiing in the Beijing Olympics. “I can’t imagine the pain that she’s going through, and it’s not the physical pain — we can deal with physical pain — but the emotional pain is something else.”

Johnson added that Vonn’s coach told her: “Lindsey was cheering for me from the helicopter.”

Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the Games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”

Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated after just 13 seconds on the course where she holds a record 12 World Cup titles.

Others in the crowd, including rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course. Fellow American star Mikaela Shiffrin posted a broken heart emoji on social media.

“It’s like the man in the arena, she dared greatly,” Vonn’s sister, Karin Kildow, told NBC. “She put it all out there. She always goes 110 percent, there’s never anything less, so I know she put her whole heart into it. Sometimes things happen. It’s a very dangerous sport.”

All eyes had been on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She had returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision given her age, but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee. Many wondered how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to join the one she won in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

The four-time overall World Cup champion stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.

Still, no one counted her out even then. She has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she had planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.

Cortina has had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofane course had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downhill training runs over the past three days before the awful crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.

“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”

The drama was of a different sort this time. Not since perhaps Hermann Maier‘s cartwheeling crash at the 1998 Nagano Games had there been such a high-profile and spectacular fall in Alpine skiing at the Olympics.

“Dear Lindsey, we’re all thinking of you. You are an incredible inspiration, and will always be an Olympic champion,” International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry said.

News of the crash spread quickly, including to the fan zone down the mountain in Cortina.

“It’s such a huge loss and bummer,” Megan Gunyou of the U.S. said. “I feel like hearing her story and just like the redemption of her first fall and like fighting to come back to the Olympics this year, I mean, I feel so sad for her.”

Dan Wilton of Vancouver, Canada, watched the race from the stands.

“It was frightening,” he said. “Really, your heart goes out for such a champion who is coming to the end of her career. Everyone wanted a successful finish.”

ESPN’s Alyssa Roenigk and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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