Now that Case Keenum knows he'll start another game, the Minnesota Vikings' quarterback can focus on more important things, like reeeeeeeeeeeeevveeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnge!!!
Keenum spent last season with Sunday's opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, helping them win their only four games of the season before being yanked for No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff.
Keenum said he considered re-signing in L.A. to backup Goff once again before inking a one-year, $2 million deal in Minnesota, where fate handed him another chance, and he's run away with the starting gig. The 29-year-old quarterback already has a career high in touchdowns (11) and is on pace for highs in completion percentage (64.9), yards (currently 1,914), yards per attempt (7.3) and passer rating (92.6).
Coming off a four-touchdown game last week (another career high), surely Keenum would like to prove to his former team he's got what it takes to be a full-time NFL starter, instead of the stop-gap role.
At least outwardly, Keenum is keeping his emotions under wraps, saying the matchup doesn't mean much outside of the chance to stack another win in a tight NFC playoff race.
"That's how I'm treating it: another game," he said, via the Minnesota Star Tribune. "I know a lot of those guys, but for me, this week, it's going to be business as usual. And business as usual is me doing my job."
Well that was anticlimactic. Maybe he's got some ill-will for Goff. The Ryan Gosling doppelganger, No. 1 overall pick, who didn't win a game last year after taking Keenum's job. Surely we can get the QBs snipping back-and-forth?
"He's a great dude," Keenum said of Goff. "We've kept up throughout the season -- obviously, a lot of congratulatory texts between the two of us. I think one of my friends said it right: Just like everybody predicted, Case Keenum with the 7-2 Minnesota Vikings going up against the 7-2 Rams."
Fine. No fire. Only respect.
None can really complain how the chips fell.
And for Keenum, his recent play has earned him another week of keeping a starting gig. In L.A., he was replaced after a win. The Vikings are giving him a chance to hold off Teddy Bridgewater at least a bit longer.
"You know, at the end of the day, to be honest, if it ain't broken, you don't fix it," defensive end Everson Griffen said of the Vikings' QB situation. "And that's all I've got to say. And it ain't broken, so you don't fix it."
