If someone informed quarterback Case Keenum he was just a temporary fill-in for rookie Jared Goff, it is clear he has not gotten the message. In Week 6 against the Detroit Lions, Keenum had a spectacular performance, completing 27-of-32 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns.
To cap off Keenum’s performance, he even broke Jim Everret’s 27-year-old record with 20 consecutive completions. However, it would not be enough as Keenum’s lone blemish (interception on their last drive) would ultimately cost them the game. The interception seemed to weigh heavily on Keenum’s mind even more so than his impressive stat line, according to Sam Farmer of Los Angeles Times:
“Just like I said last week, we had the ball in our hands with a chance to win the game, and we didn’t do it,” he said. “It’s pretty frustrating.”
Despite coming up just short in the end, there was plenty of good to take away from an offensive standpoint. The offense has largely been blamed as the team’s Achilles heel for most of the season. However, the offense has steadily improved under Keenum in the recent weeks where he earned praise from Everret himself:
“If you hit on 19 in a row, that’s a big congratulations to the offense as a whole, Everett said. “It means everybody’s on the same page.”
The current situation surrounding Los Angeles got a bit more complicated with the uptick in Keenum’s play, combined with their recent losses. When head coach Jeff Fisher said the Rams would take their time developing Goff, many projected the top pick in this year’s NFL Draft to be ready to go by this point in the season.
However, Keenum has now made the dynamic much more interesting thanks to his stellar play and it now remains to be seen what direction the team decides to go in.
