Keenum seeking Twick fix to keep the Browns down
MINNESOTA VIKINGS quarterback Case Keenum hopes playing the winless Cleveland Browns today proves an easier Twickenham experience than his last one.
Twelve months ago, Keenum started for the LA Rams at the home of rugby but threw four interceptions in a 17-10 loss to the New York Giants.
It was a game that cost Keenum his starting job with the Rams but he is in a very different place as the Vikings and Browns line up for the 21st London NFL game, almost
10 years to the day since the first in 2007.
Keenum (below) began the year as Minnesota’s back-up but was thrust into action when Sam Bradford went down in week two and is 3-2 since for a team that arrives with a
5-2 record. While the Browns look like easy opposition on paper, four of their losses have come by just three points and Keenum knows their defensive co-ordinator Gregg Williams well from their time together at the Rams.
“It’s a Gregg Williams defence so we know we have our work cut out,” he said. “We’ll have to be on top of everything.
“He’s got something up his sleeve for everything. It’s about being prepared for the unexpected, if that makes sense.”
The Vikings have won three in a row with Keenum’s job made easier by a defensive unit ranked fourth in the league on yards per game.
The Browns must hope the disruption of travelling to London to play can cause enough of a shock to bring about their first win of the season.
The odds are not great. Of the seven teams who have previously arrived in London winless only two have triumphed in the capital and that includes the 2013 Vikings who had the advantage of playing another winless team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s a tall challenge, a real challenge for us,” said coach Hue Jackson who does, at least, know a little something about winning in London.
Back in 1991, he coached running backs, receivers and special teams for the London Monarchs as they won the title in the inaugural season of the World League. His task here is rather different as he tries to mould rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer into a winner.
The second-round pick will start this afternoon but he has been benched in each of his last three appearances and sat out the loss to Houston two weeks ago entirely.
“I’m very honest with DeShone,” said Jackson. “Some things at the quarterback position are non-negotiable for me.
“He knows turning the ball over is something we can’t do. I think he gets it.”
In the best of today’s other games, Dallas travel to Washington while two of the league’s best defences go head-to-head as Seattle host Houston.