It seemed to me, watching the Dallas game, that Akers had lost his heart for the game.

Maybe he was reinserted into the starting lineup too early; not fully reconditioned (a different thing from being medically cleared to play) from his Achilles injury.

The Achilles tendon is a funny thing. Even if not torn, the surrounding tissues tend to atropy, get lezy, as the Achilles takes its time to heal. The Achilles takes time. Which leads me to wonder: Where was Akers' Achilles and lower leg/ankle, really? Not quite there, yet, for the lateral stress that occurs playing football? And where isd Akers in relation to that injury - wqas he protecting it, or spooked out and not trusting it, even though ready?

When watching running backs, I go back to Vince Lombardi's admonition: Run with abandon.

For whatever reason, he stopped doing that.