Obviously the right environment helps; he's certainly found one with the Minnesota Vikings, which is more than could be said when he was playing with the perennially-woeful Texans. Many of the same local media types who were lambasting him during his time with the Texans are now in fact praising him, as they've come to discover what those of us who watched him at the University of Houston knew all along:
Of course, any objective observer could have seen this coming from Keenum. When Keenum completes eight of his first nine passes against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving, he’s just showing what he always displayed at the University of Houston. He completed 69.4 percent of his passes as a Cougar. He’s always been an ultra accurate quarterback.
When Keenum slips out of a defensive end’s grasp, steps up into the pocket and delivers a bullet pass to Adam Thielen for a first down, he’s just doing what he’s always done. The same thing he did at UH while shattering the NCAA’s all-time passing records. The same thing he did in putting up 31 points against Bill Belichick’s defense for an absolutely dreadful Texans team in his first extended stint as an NFL starter back in 2013.
This is a guy who’s always made big plays throughout the entirety of his quarterbacking life.
The difference is Keenum finally has a good NFL team around him. He has weapons to utilize. And competent coaching. The same things he always had at UH.
“It’s the Case Keenum show,” Aikman beams at one point during the Thanksgiving broadcast.
Whenever anyone’s given Keenum a legitimate chance to take the stage, it always has been. Many of us saw this coming. True University of Houston fans certainly aren’t surprised by anything Keenum is doing in the NFL. The anti-Keenum rhetoric in the Houston media never reflected the true feelings in the city.Much of the local sports media, of course, is so deep in the tank for UT, A&M and the "Power 5" conferences that they are incapable of giving the University of Houston, or any of its alumni, the credit they deserve. That's probably never going to change, unfortunately. All Case Keenum can continue to do is prove his haters wrong.
To which I say: keep up the good work, Case!
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