Poor Case Keenum. The Vikings’ backup quarterback has done just about everything you could ask of a backup in the NFL: he’s stepped in when Sam Bradford’s knee started acting up, and he’s kept the Vikings competitive in most of the games he’s played. Yet he still gets no respect, as vividly shown here in a photo caption in the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Um, guys, That’d be Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, not Case Keenum. The lack of a red practice jersey should have been a dead give away.
(Screen cap from the Star Tribune)
Jim Souhan, whose column is graced by the oddly captioned photo, says the Vikings need to be careful with their choice of quarterback to face the Cleveland Browns on Sunday:
The Vikings brought four quarterbacks to London and three practiced during the team’s workout Thursday next to a cow pasture.
If their game Sunday goes as expected, they will by this time next week be choosing between their injured franchise quarterback, the injured franchise quarterback they acquired to replace the former, and a quarterback who will have won five of the seven games in which he has played this season.
This is where it is important to be able to distinguish between fish, and chips. The Vikings need to be wise enough to discern which quarterback is an entree, and which is an accompaniment.
Sunday, the Vikings will face the Browns, the likely originators of the term “Brexit,” for the ability to leave a division race by the end of September every year.
The Browns have lost 22 of their past 23 games and are getting worse by the week. They will be without their best player, tackle Joe Thomas, and without their best young player, first-round draft pick Myles Garrett, who is in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
The Browns’ historic ineptitude could complicate the Vikings’ decision. Current starter Case Keenum will not need to play well to win on Sunday. Would the Vikings replace a quarterback who is winning with a quarterback recovering from a knee injury?
Earlier this week, the long-anticipated, revived Bridgewater Underground gave signs of life:
The escape was a daring plan, audacious even, yet simple. But the timing had to be perfect. And here’s another problem with exile. When you’re out of sight and history is re-written, people begin to believe the new narrative, no matter how outlandish. And if their life isn’t altered too negatively, they accept the new narrative. So if you wait too long, you won’t have The People with you, and The Movement will fail.
Which is why The Bridgewater Underground stayed behind, working in the shadows, keeping The Movement alive in the hearts and minds of The People. Even when there was general harmony in the land, there was always an unease about the new leadership. And when Generalissimo Sam was suddenly taken ill and not seen in public for weeks, Viceroy Case took over and was okay, but wanting in several areas. As the health rumors of the Generalissimo persisted, doubts grew about the Viceroy, even though his substitute leadership was good in the short term. Deep down everyone knew that Viceroy Case was never gonna be more than a Viceroy, and Viceroys never last long in a world of Kings.
It was time. You kept tabs on your homeland, so you knew this day was coming. You went to your nice basement, and behind the nice bar you built in a nice hidden compartment which you opened and you took…it…out.
The burner phone you smuggled on to the island. You checked it once a day, looking for a text. Every day you turned it on. Every day there were no messages.
Today, you expected the same thing. Phone turns on, no messages. But today, you turned the phone on, and within 10 seconds, the telltale sound of a new text message.
Holy crap. It’s time. After all these long months, finally. Hands shaking, you flip open the burner phone and open the message. It says what you committed to memory all those months ago:
‘Fran Tarkenton is scrambling.’
