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Browns preparing for likelihood of facing 'familiar' face with Case Keenum as Texans QB
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- Browns preparing for likelihood of facing 'familiar' face with Case Keenum as Texans QB
BEREA — There's time when a backup quarterback gets the start and the other team may not have a deep scouting report on him. Then there's going to be Sunday when the Browns play at the Houston Texans .
For this specific backup quarterback, Case Keenum , the Browns have a deep reservoir of information about him. After all, they spent two full seasons with him as t heir own backup quarterback not too long ago.
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"I think it definitely helps," cornerback Denzel Ward told the Beacon Journal on Wednesday. "I feel I have an awareness and kind of familiar with Case and how he likes to play and everything, just his playing style and how he throws the ball and everything. So I think it definitely does help."
It's not official Keenum will start for the Texans (8-6) on Sunday in what is a critical game in the AFC playoff race. However, every report coming out of Houston indicates that former Ohio State standout and Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite C.J. Stroud is not expected to be ready to start the game.
Stroud is sixth in the league in passing with 3,631 yards, despite having missed last Sunday's overtime win at the Tennessee Titans with a concussion he sustained the previous week against the New York Jets . That concussion remains what is limiting him this week, including Wednesday, when he again didn't practice for the Texans.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski has a word with quarterback Case Keenum (5) during the first half Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, in Cleveland.
"We're going through the protocol," Texans coach DeMeco Ryans told Houston reporters Wednesday. "Each person, each concussion is different. Each person takes a different time to heal. The most important thing is making sure C.J. is healthy. When he's ready to go, he'll be ready to go and I'll let you guys know."
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Which leads back to Keenum, who spent the 2020-21 seasons as the backup to Baker Mayfield with the Browns, starting two games and playing in nine during that time. The journeyman quarterback is back in Houston, which is where his first two NFL seasons were spent, as one of two, along with Davis Mills , to back up Stroud.
Keenum was primarily the No. 3 quarterback until last weekend against the Titans. In his season debut, he completed 23 of 36 passes for 229 yards with a touchdown, an interception and a 79.5 passer rating.
Along with that, in all likelihood, Keenum earned a shot at his former team as well as his former coach — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski — from not just his time in Cleveland , but also a one-year stay with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017.
"The chances of me playing against an old team are higher than most people because I have a lot of old teams," Keenum told Houston reporters Wednesday . "I've had to answer this a bunch, because I've played a lot of my old teams in the past. I remember being with the Vikings and playing an old team and I was with (then-Vikings quarterbacks coach) Kevin Stefanski.
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"Me and him actually talked about it and making the main thing the main thing and not paying attention to all the externals. I'll take a coaching point from the team's coach who we're about to play about the team I used to play on because he told me about a different team that I used to play on."
Keenum may be shying away from the talk, but his former teammates aren't doing so. Part of that is because they have the benefit of not being beholden to the Texans' actual starting quarterback announcement.
Another part, though, is because it's all part of their preparation. As Stefanski said Wednesday, "We prepare for all of their quarterbacks. I think you have to do that in this league."
So what kind of quarterback are they preparing for in Keenum?
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"Obviously we can get a lot of pointers from Kevin," linebacker Sione Takitaki told the Beacon Journal. "Just as a whole, we know what he could do. … So we're going to have to prepare just like if we're going to prepare for C.J. But, yeah, man, an NFL quarterback, guy's ready to go, and I know Case wants to come out here, he's playing against his old team, wants to make a splash, you know what I mean? So we're going to definitely have to be prepared."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns preparing to likely see 'familiar' Case Keenum as Texans QB
