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Rams QB Case Keenum gearing up for first Week 1 start
By Alden Gonzalez
[www.espn.com]
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The backdrop was carried into the locker room, Case Keenum took his place in the middle of it and a mob of media members swelled around him late Thursday afternoon, four days before the Los Angeles Rams will open their season. Then came the first question ...
Case, your first NFL start. What's it like?
"Well ... it's my 16th NFL start, just so you know," Keenum said. "So, I have done it before."
Yes, in case anybody forgot, he has. But Keenum has only ever been the guy by default, starting with the Houston Texans because Matt Schaub injured a foot and an ankle in 2013, and starting for the Rams because Nick Foles wasn't good enough in 2015. This is the summer when Keenum actually won a job, holding off a developing No. 1 pick to do it.
This is the summer when Keenum will finally start a regular-season opener -- on Monday Night Football, against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers, in the first meaningful game back in Los Angeles.
"It’s the first time for it to be my show starting out, and not just taking over like, 'Oh crap, send out Case now,'" Keenum said. "It’s been something I’ve prepared for for a long time. I’m excited. I really am."
Keenum left Houston as the NCAA's all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and completions, but a relatively small stature and a weak throwing arm left him undrafted in 2012.
He spent that season buried on the Texans' practice squad, then started eight games in 2013, throwing for 1,760 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Keenum spent a chunk of the next year on the Rams' practice squad, then returned to the Texans, started the final two regular-season games, winning both. He returned to the Rams for a seventh-round pick in March 2015.
Keenum went on to supplant Foles, the man he was brought in to back up, and returned from a concussion to start the final four games last season, a stretch in which he threw for 692 yards, completed nearly 65 percent of his passes and led the Rams to three victories.
In the eight months that followed, the Rams have seen continued growth.
"Every week seeing just more and more command of the offense, which is comforting," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said of Keenum. "He’s going to get up there and make the right decision. The position itself is hard to play, but he’s going to give us a chance with checking in and out of run stuff, changing protections, getting the ball down the field, making plays, extending plays with his legs."
Keenum is coming off a solid preseason, one that saw him complete 75 percent of his passes without committing a single turnover.
That's all the Rams really need from the 28-year-old: just enough to keep opposing defenses from stacking the box against star running back Todd Gurley.
But Keenum starting is in no way an ideal scenario for the Rams. He shoulders a 38.2 QBR that is the fifth worst among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 400 passes over the past three seasons. And the guy the Rams truly want ready, of course, is Jared Goff, the first overall pick who cost an assortment of high-round draft choices for the right to select him.
Keenum hasn't forgotten that.
The line of questioning won't let him.
"I’m still batting a thousand," Keenum said. "Every interview I’ve ever done, somebody has asked [about Goff]. It is what it is. I compartmentalize it. People are going to ask what they want to ask. He was the first pick of the draft. Obviously some attention there, but I’m just going to go out and do my job. My job is to be the quarterback of this team and get the ball in the right people’s hands and convert on third downs and score points."
By Alden Gonzalez
[www.espn.com]
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The backdrop was carried into the locker room, Case Keenum took his place in the middle of it and a mob of media members swelled around him late Thursday afternoon, four days before the Los Angeles Rams will open their season. Then came the first question ...
Case, your first NFL start. What's it like?
"Well ... it's my 16th NFL start, just so you know," Keenum said. "So, I have done it before."
Yes, in case anybody forgot, he has. But Keenum has only ever been the guy by default, starting with the Houston Texans because Matt Schaub injured a foot and an ankle in 2013, and starting for the Rams because Nick Foles wasn't good enough in 2015. This is the summer when Keenum actually won a job, holding off a developing No. 1 pick to do it.
This is the summer when Keenum will finally start a regular-season opener -- on Monday Night Football, against the division-rival San Francisco 49ers, in the first meaningful game back in Los Angeles.
"It’s the first time for it to be my show starting out, and not just taking over like, 'Oh crap, send out Case now,'" Keenum said. "It’s been something I’ve prepared for for a long time. I’m excited. I really am."
Keenum left Houston as the NCAA's all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and completions, but a relatively small stature and a weak throwing arm left him undrafted in 2012.
He spent that season buried on the Texans' practice squad, then started eight games in 2013, throwing for 1,760 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions. Keenum spent a chunk of the next year on the Rams' practice squad, then returned to the Texans, started the final two regular-season games, winning both. He returned to the Rams for a seventh-round pick in March 2015.
Keenum went on to supplant Foles, the man he was brought in to back up, and returned from a concussion to start the final four games last season, a stretch in which he threw for 692 yards, completed nearly 65 percent of his passes and led the Rams to three victories.
In the eight months that followed, the Rams have seen continued growth.
"Every week seeing just more and more command of the offense, which is comforting," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said of Keenum. "He’s going to get up there and make the right decision. The position itself is hard to play, but he’s going to give us a chance with checking in and out of run stuff, changing protections, getting the ball down the field, making plays, extending plays with his legs."
Keenum is coming off a solid preseason, one that saw him complete 75 percent of his passes without committing a single turnover.
That's all the Rams really need from the 28-year-old: just enough to keep opposing defenses from stacking the box against star running back Todd Gurley.
But Keenum starting is in no way an ideal scenario for the Rams. He shoulders a 38.2 QBR that is the fifth worst among quarterbacks who have attempted at least 400 passes over the past three seasons. And the guy the Rams truly want ready, of course, is Jared Goff, the first overall pick who cost an assortment of high-round draft choices for the right to select him.
Keenum hasn't forgotten that.
The line of questioning won't let him.
"I’m still batting a thousand," Keenum said. "Every interview I’ve ever done, somebody has asked [about Goff]. It is what it is. I compartmentalize it. People are going to ask what they want to ask. He was the first pick of the draft. Obviously some attention there, but I’m just going to go out and do my job. My job is to be the quarterback of this team and get the ball in the right people’s hands and convert on third downs and score points."
