HOUSTON (AP)
Case Keenum has had some good moments and plenty of struggles in
his five games as Houston's quarterback.
The one thing he hasn't had is any wins.
Now the undrafted free agent will have to compete with Tom Brady
and New England if he hopes to keep the Texans from losing their
10th straight game on Sunday.
Keenum had the worst game in his short career in Sunday's loss
to the Jaguars. This week he's had a singular focus to try and get
back on track.
''I've focused this week on trust,'' he said. ''That's kind of
been my one word that can encompass a lot of things in that arena.
Trusting my preparation, trusting my reads, trusting what I'm
seeing, trusting my pocket and trusting a lot things.''
Keenum admitted after Sunday's game that he was a little
hesitant and that he would work to make sure that didn't happen
again.
''I want to be perfect, but I know I'm not,'' he said. ''I know
things are going to come up and I'm going to make mistakes. They're
going to make plays and it's about continuing to trust through
those mistakes and through those things and not become hesitant
after that.''
Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison saw that hesitancy in Keenum
against Jacksonville and spent the week trying to figure out how to
get him back to playing the way he was in his first three
games.
''He certainly wasn't pulling the trigger as soon as he needed
to last week and ... we'll get him to do that,'' Dennison said.
''That's part of offensive executive and everybody's got to be the
same way. I think we're working on it and making sure he has a
great week of preparation to get that done.''
Andre Johnson has been impressed with Keenum's work so far,
especially since he was thrown into action with the season well
underway. Keenum took over for an injured Matt Schaub on Oct. 20
and retained the job after Schaub got healthy.
It was his first live-game action since he wrapped up a
record-setting career at the University of Houston in 2011. He led
the Cougars to a 12-0 start that season before a loss in the
Conference USA championship game. He left Houston as the NCAA's
all-time leader in career total yards (20,114), yards passing
(19,217), passing touchdowns (155) and total touchdowns (178).
Despite a stellar college career, he went undrafted before being
picked up by the Texans. He spent all of last season on the
practice squad before making the team this year.
''It's going to be tough at times,'' Johnson said. ''For him,
he's just starting. So people are going to throw a lot of things at
him and they try to figure out what he does well and try to stop
him from doing those things. For him, it's a little bit tougher
because he has so much coming at him at one time in such a short
period of time. But that's part of it. He'll learn from it.''
Keenum has taken care of the ball much better than the veteran
Schaub, who had been Houston's starter since 2007. Schaub had eight
touchdowns and nine interceptions in his six starts. Keenum has
eight touchdowns with just two interceptions in his five
starts.
Coach Gary Kubiak has been impressed with how Keenum has
adjusted to being under center after spending most of his college
career in the shotgun formation. He's a much more mobile
quarterback than Schaub is, so the Texans are searching for the
best ways to help him be successful. They've also put him in a
pistol formation on some plays because they know he's a bit more
comfortable when he isn't under center.
''We're continuing to find out what he does best and take a hard
look at everything we changed offensively a little bit to try to
fit some of his strengths that we think,'' Kubiak said. ''So it has
come back to doing a little bit of both and we're trying to sort
through that and see what we think he does best.''
Though Keenum said that he was very surprised that he hasn't
been able to pick up his first NFL win yet, Johnson said that
Keenum hasn't let the tough start to his career get him down.
''After every game, he's always saying: `Man, I've got to do
better, play better. I'll play better for you guys,''' Johnson
said. ''He's hard on himself. You don't really find many young guys
that come out and tell you stuff like that. It just shows what kind
of guy he is and how bad he wants to win, and how bad he wants to
help this team.''
---
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org