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    Case Keenum's Big Ally

    Case Keenum gets help from important friend in Texans QB fight

    Chris Baldwin
    Aug 19, 2013 | 6:04 am

    The bond built in the Texas winter as a quarterback and a wide receiver who both knew they needed to come up big in the summer found common ground. And necessity.

    Case Keenum needed someone to throw to, someone he could work on his timing and touch with, someone with NFL caliber skills. Lestar Jean needed someone to zip him the football, someone who'd help build back his confidence with every throw, someone who'd never doubt if he belonged.

    So Keenum and Jean got together and played catch. Over and over and over again. This is how they'd keep their dreams alive.

    "We'd go wherever we could find an open field," Keenum says of the offseason work. "Luckily, there are a lot of places you can go around here."

    And oh, the places they could go now. To say Keenum is pushing for the Houston Texans' No. 2 quarterback spot is putting it mildly. He's pushing like Hank is pushing Walter White in Breaking Bad. It's a little more intense than a slight shove. Keenum's driven the Texans to five scoring drives and 27 points in two preseason games. Incumbent backup quarterback T.J. Yates has led two scoring drives in the two games, while essentially playing the same amount of time.

    He looks almost slight and very ordinary in everyday clothes. But Case Keenum can throw the football with almost anyone.

    Keenum's not just pushing, he should be in the lead. Even if Texans coach Gary Kubiak is not about to acknowledge such a notion.

    "They both are doing their jobs and doing it very well," Kubiak insists at his Sunday afternoon press conference, while revealing that he might wait as late as a few days before the Sept. 9 Monday Night opener at San Diego to declare which quarterback is No. 2. "Both of them played very good (in the second preseason game)."

    And Jean? He's caught eight passes for a team-high 109 yards and two touchdowns in two preseason games, forcing himself very much back into the wide receiver mix. Not bad for a guy who could have been in real danger of getting cut with a poor camp.

    Both of Jean's touchdown catches came on passes from Keenum, including a gutsy 38-yard strike on fourth-and-2 Saturday night. Keenum and Jean's offseason work will not get anything close to the amount of attention Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson's throwing sessions at the University of Houston did last offseason. But, they just might go a long way toward changing the Texans' depth chart.

    "It sure seems that way doesn't it?" Keenum says when asked if he and Jean have forged a special quarterback-receiver connection. "Lestar is one of those guys who stays in Houston all year. I've thrown a lot of passes to him."

    NFL Quarterback Leadership

    Keenum — the former University of Houston NCAA record breaker — is another one of those Texans who spends the overwhelming majority of his time in Houston. He and his wife Kimberly Keenum got an apartment near Reliant Stadium after he signed with the Texans so he'd always be close to the facility — the better to study the NFL game.

    Still, Keenum smartly brushes off any idea that he's outworking anyone.

    "We all work hard," he tells a TV reporter who asks if No. 7's work ethic is carrying him in this quarterback fight.

    No smart NFL player is ever going to publicly put his work habits above another player's. Besides pining it all on hard work is another way of ignoring Case Keenum's real talent. When you see Keenum in the locker room after a game — dressed in a simple blue polo and tan shorts as he is after the preseason affair with the Dolphins — it's easy to dismiss him as the least naturally talented of the Texans quarterbacks.

    He looks almost slight and very ordinary in everyday clothes. But Case Keenum can throw the football with almost anyone.

    Keenum's not just pushing, he should be in the lead. Even if Texans coach Gary Kubiak is not about to acknowledge such a notion

    "Case throws a great ball," Jean says. "He gets it to you where you need it."

    He also gets how important confidence is. Jean dropped a few Keenum passes in the first preseason game as well, including a should-have-been touchdown.

    The quarterback's response? Keenum just kept throwing the ball to his guy.

    "Star has a lot of talent," Keenum says. "You don't give up on a guy like that. I've missed him when he's been open too. You just go to the next play."

    Keenum and Jean will keep playing catch and see where it takes them.

    Case Keenum and Lestar Jean have forged a connection from putting plenty of extra work together in Houston.

    Case Keenum Lestar Jean Texans
      
    Photo by Michelle Watson CultureMapSnap
    Case Keenum and Lestar Jean have forged a connection from putting plenty of extra work together in Houston.
    unspecified
    series/htx-super-season-2013
    news/sports

    O'Brien Talks Tough

    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players

    Chris Baldwin
    Jan 3, 2014 | 1:43 pm
    Tough new sheriff: Bill O'Brien sounds like the anti Kubiak, vows to be hard on Texans players
    Photo by Rob Carr Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien admits he missed the NFL.

    Bill O'Brien certainly hasn't walked timidly into his new job as the head coach/franchise savior of the Houston Texans.

    With large posters of J.J. Watt and Andre Johnson flanking him on either side of an elaborate press conference stage, O'Brien didn't pay homage as much as he demanded a new standard.

    "To me it's about accountability," O'Brien said. "It's about demanding. It's about putting together a fast, physical football team."

    In other words, Mr. Nice Guy went out the window with former Texans coach Gary Kubiak. O'Brien mentioned "accountability" and "demanding" several times in his introductory press conference Friday afternoon at Reliant Stadium. And you can bet the chorus sounded like sweet music to Texans owner Bob McNair.

    CultureMap was the first news outlet anywhere to report that O'Brien was the Texans' top choice to be the team's new coach way back on Dec. 18. This was a McNair driven pick from the beginning and it is the 44-year-old O'Brien's toughness that drew the owner to the former Penn State coach and Bill Belichick assistant.

    "To me it's about accountability. It's about demanding."

    And McNair himself certainly talked tough on introduction day.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door," McNair said. "Not acceptable. Not what we're going to do in the future."

    McNair went on to talk about O'Brien having shown he's willing to make the hard decisions — something he clearly felt was lacking as the Texans spiraled from Super Bowl schemers into a 2-14 death march in 2013.

    "Some coaches who have been players still think of themselves as players rather than the head of an organization," McNair said. "And have trouble making difficult decisions."

    Kubiak, of course, played quarterback for the Denver Broncos. As for an inability to make tough calls? Just look at how long Kubiak stuck with a flat-lined Matt Schaub and how he kept trying to go back to Schaub even after the Case Keenum call was made.

    O'Brien noted that "there are a lot of good football players on this team." He also declined to take any pressure off himself and describe this makeover of a team with the worst record in the NFL as a rebuilding job.

    "There are a lot of pieces in place here," he said. "It's all about hard work . . . Quick turnaround, rebuilding are labels. I'm not into all that."

    Tom Brady Tough?

    All in all, it's an impressive opening performance for a first-time NFL head coach. O'Brien knows how to command the stage. Texans general manager Rick Smith talked about the new coach's "charisma."

    O'Brien even makes sure to work in the obligatory Texas joke about the cowboy life.

    "Right after this, I'm going to go out and buy my first pair of cowboy boots," he said.

    It's already becoming clear there will be one cowboy in charge of these Texans. One who happens to be a hard-nosed Northeast guy who's probably still most famous for getting into a sideline screaming match with New England Patriots golden boy quarterback Tom Brady.

    "I'm ready to kick 2013 the hell out the door."

    O'Brien downplayed the incident, but it's clearly helped burnish his taskmaster image.

    "You know it's a competitive sports," O'Brien said. "Tom Brady's a great friend. These things happen. The thing that people don't understand is that 30 seconds after it was over, we were sitting together and going over pictures (of game action)."

    The Texans players are clearly intrigued by O'Brien. Veteran center Chris Myers sat amongst the press at the stadium and listened to the new head man.

    There will be a lot more change coming to the stadium. Smith hinted at as much when he noted how the Texans needed a coach who can guide young players.

    It's hard to imagine O'Brien tip toeing around that change. He plans to meet with all the remaining Texans coaches Saturday (as with any head coaching change, it's unlikely many of the current assistants will be kept by O'Brien). He'll tackle the quarterback question later, though it's clear Keenum is still in the picture.

    Almost every new NFL head coach sounds good on introduction day. Especially when the team brings out a marching band for the occasion. But O'Brien sounds tough and no nonsense.

    Just what Bob McNair wanted. This is his call. His makeover. His tough guy.

    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.

    Bill O'Brien presser
      
    Photo by Scott Halleran Getty Images
    Bill O'Brien will not call the Houston Texans a rebuilding team.
    unspecified
    series/htx-super-season-2013
    news/sports
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