25 SKOL’s of Christmas: The Minneapolis Miracle

No matter what happens, Vikings fans will always have the joy of the Minneapolis Miracle. Merry Christmas from The Vikings Wire!

Welcome to the 25 SKOL’s of Christmas!

In a similar vein to how Freeform has done the 25 days of Christmas, we will look back at different moments in Vikings history to bring a little extra joy to you this holiday season.

It’s that simple. The holidays can be a trying time for some people and we want to put a smile on people’s faces by reminiscing about some truly joyous times in Vikings’ history.

On the twenty-ffith SKOL of Christmas, the Vikings gave to me: Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs for 61 brilliant yards.

The Vikings have had a lot heartbreak in the playoffs over the years and the 2017 divisional-round matchup against the New Orleans Saints was set to be just that.

In the first half, the Vikings jumped out to a 17-0 lead but slowly squandered it in the second half as the Saints crawled back into it during the second half. They took a 21-20 lead with less than five minutes left and Kai Forbath hit a field goal and Wil Lutz gave the Saints a 24-23 lead with 25 seconds left.

The Vikings had only one timeout left as they got the ball back. On the first play, Keenum hit Diggs for 19 yards to the 39-yard line. Two incompletions back-to-back had everyone worried that heartbreak was coming once again.

The play will forever live in Vikings’ lore: Buffalo Right Seven Heaven. It had Diggs and Jarius Wright running seven routes (aka: corner routes) with the idea being to push the ball down the field and get out of bounds quickly.

They did just that. Diggs caught the ball but Saints safety Marcus Williams mistimed the hit. Diggs kept his balance and scored a walk-off touchdown.

The next week saw the Vikings lose, but the pure joy of this moment will live on forever. Merry Christmas and happy holidays from all of us at Vikings Wire!

Previous SKOL’s of Christmas:

Drafting Randy Moss
Vikings 1997 Wild Card Comeback
Jarius Wright Walks Off the Jets
Jared Allen traded to Vikings
Adrian Peterson Sets Rushing Record
Brett Favre Revenge Tour
Bud Grant Rocks a Polo in Freezing Temperatures
Adrian Peterson Stiff Arms Defender to Oblivion
Anthony Carter Dominates the 1987 Playoffs
Kirk Cousins’ First Major Comeback
Randy Moss Dominates Monday Night Football
Tuesday Night Joe Webb
Randy Moss Laterals to Moe Williams
Miracle At The Met
Cris Carter catches number 1,000
Resurgence of Randall Cunningham
Sam Bradford Opens Up U.S. Bank Stadium
Teddy Bridgewater’s Triumphant Return
Randy Moss on Thanksgiving
Bernard Berrian 99 Yard Touchdown
Jeff George’s Moonshots
Vikings Complete Largest NFL Comeback
Moss Moons Lambeau Field
Adrian Peterson gets 2,097 Yards

Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah gets Christmas gift, Browns pick off Case Keenum vs. Texans

For the second straight week, the Browns get a gift from Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. This time Case Keenum and the Texans are his victim.

For the second straight week, the Cleveland Browns have gotten a turnover from the arms of linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. Late in the second quarter against the Houston Texans, Owusu-Koramoah was able to come away with the football off of a throw from former Browns quarterback Case Keenum in a game that is going Cleveland’s way.

Owusu-Koramoah has defensive tackle Shelby Harris to thank, however, as he is the one who got his hand on the football to bat the ball into the air and right into the lap of the linebacker.

Competing for Pro Bowl spots that come down to box score numbers more than actual on-field performances, Owusu-Koramoah deserves to get a few notches in the interception column. Even if they both have come from a bit of luck.

The Browns were not able to get any points out of the drive as kicker Dustin Hopkins left the game with a hamstring injury. Sitting with a 22-7 lead at halftime, the Browns are looking to close this game out in Houston and seal their tenth win (and very likely a playoff spot) in this one.

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LOOK: Browns’ up to 55-man gameday roster vs. Texans with two practice squad elevations

Joe Flacco and the Browns will look to win another against Case Keenum and the Texans. Here is their gameday roster.

It will be the battle of the backup quarterbacks when the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans take the field. With C.J. Stroud out, the Browns will get their former backup quarterback Case Keenum as he gets set to square up with Joe Flacco.

Sitting at 9-5 on the season, the Browns cannot clinch a playoff spot this weekend after the Buffalo Bills win on Saturday night, but they can retain a tight hold on the fifth seed in the AFC. This will allow them to clinch the spot at home on Thursday night against the New York Jets if they can take care of business against the Texans.

Can the Browns get the job done on the road and reel in their third straight game? If they can, they will all but have clinched their first postseason berth since the 2020 season.

Here are the 55 players on the Browns’ gameday roster after elevating safety Tanner McCalister and linebacker Charlie Thomas III from the practice squad for this matchup. As a reminder, gameday inactives will be released 90 minutes before gametime, but due to the injuries to numerous players, those are already sorting themselves out.

Browns will face an old friend ‘barring an unexpected improvement’ from C.J. Stroud vs. Texans

The Browns may just face a familiar friend this week as they travel to Houston.

Setting the league on fire, rookie quarterback for the Houston Texans, C.J. Stroud, has solidified himself as the sure-fire Offensive Rookie of the Year. However, it was Case Keenum a week ago against the Tennessee Titans after Stroud suffered a concussion, and it looks like the Cleveland Browns will face their former quarterback on Sunday as well.

According to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 Houston, Stroud is still experiencing symptoms from the concussion he suffered against the New York Jets. Wilson adds that Keenum is, “expected to start against the Cleveland Browns, his former team, on Sunday, barring an unexpected improvement in Stroud’s condition.”

Keenum even started two games for the Browns in relief of Baker Mayfield in 2021, one of which came on a Thursday Night Primetime win against the Denver Broncos. As the starter in the brown and orange, Keenum went 2-0, throwing for 462 yards and three touchdowns that season.

In his one start this year for the Texans, last week against the Tennessee Titans, Keenum threw for 229 yards and a touchdown, throwing one interception as well.

The veteran backup knows how to get the job done and play controlled football. His arm is underwhelming, but the Browns cannot sell their preparation short this week if they do get Keenum on Sunday.

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Case Keenum, Ka’imi Fairbairn played hero in Texans’ OT win vs. Titans

Case Keenum and Ka’imi Fairbairn played integral roles in the Texans’ OT win vs. Titans.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – – After practice during Texans training camp and the first few games of the season, when the media was allowed into the locker room, there were always two players in a fierce competition at the ping pong table.

Back and forth, the ball went across the table as each player continuously tried to gain an advantage over the other, maneuvering about their space, hoping to find that angle that would give them the point.

Often, the other players would gather around to watch the epic one-on-one matchup between quarterback Case Keenum and kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn, who rank first and second on the player rankings on the unofficial ping pong chart.

On Sunday, the two were involved in a different battle on the field to see which would be hailed as the hero of the 19-16 overtime victory over divisional rival Tennessee Titans.

Keenum made his first start in over two years and had to shake the rust off of a bad first half where he put the Texans in a challenging situation by throwing a pick-six to Titans defensive back Elijah Molden in the second quarter that gave Tennessee a 13-point advantage over Houston. With the defense playing lights out, Keenum gained his composure in the second half, leading the offense on a late 10-play, 79-yard drive that ended in a three-yard touchdown pass to Noah Brown to tie the game at 16.

“I’m built for this,” said Keenum, who finished the game with 229 yards passing, one touchdown and one interception. “I’ve been in a lot of situations. I’ve been in a lot of systems, been in a lot of different games. And God’s made me who I am for this, for moments like this. And just trying to make sure that I’m ready when my number’s called. I said it before, you don’t have to get ready if you stay ready.”

The savvy 12-year NFL veteran was not done with his second-half heroics. With 1:43 seconds left in overtime, he scrambled away from pressure to find running back Devin Singletary all alone, which resulted in a 41-yard gain to put the Texans into field goal position with a chance to win the game.

Insert Fairbairn, playing in his second consecutive game after dealing with a quadriceps injury that caused him to miss over a month’s worth of action. He had already made three field goals on the day, including his longest of the season of 53 yards to keep the Texans close to the Titans on the scoreboard, but Houston would need him one more time to keep their playoff hopes alive.

With a perfect snap and hold, the eight-year veteran, who is over 70 percent in his career on field goals from 50 yards and farther, split the uprights from 54 yards out to give his team the walk-off win on the same day the Titans were wearing the Houston Oilers throwback uniforms.

“I think part of being in my position as a kicker, you’ve got to welcome those situations and those pressure kicks and not resist them, and just execute when you need to,” said Fairbairn. “I mean, you build that confidence a lot of time throughout the season.”

When asked about the performance of Keenum, Fairbairn couldn’t help but bring his grueling battles with the former University of Houston product in the locker room on the ping-pong table.

“I love Case,” Fairbairn said with a smile. “We have some epic ping-pong battles, so to see him on the football field, it was fun to watch.”

Head coach DeMeco Ryans awarded Fairbairn the game ball, but he will have to work a little harder to gain that No.1 position on the ping-pong rankings from Keenum.

Case Keenum followed in Peyton Manning’s footsteps with jokes at Kevin Hart’s expense on the ManningCast

Goodness, this was a hysterical dig at Kevin Hart from Case Keenum on the ManningCast.

Even Houston Texans quarterback Case Keenum got a brutal short joke in at original ManningCast guest Kevin Hart after the comedian had to bow out of his Monday appearance.

When Eli Manning asked the fill-in guest Keenum if he could ask him the same questions that he had prepared for Hart, the quarterback obliged before hysterically lowing his chair a bit because, y’know, Hart isn’t very tall.

After Peyton Manning got in a jab at Hart earlier in the night, who could’ve expected Keenum would join in on the jokes? This is what we love about the ManningCast: you just never know what you’re going to get.

When even Keenum is joining in on the jokes, you’ve got to take them in stride.

Hart catching shade like this when he’s not even available to make jokes back is just brutal, although we bet he’ll want to come back on the ManningCast sometime in the future to defend his honor (and his stature).

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Christian McCaffrey mercilessly roasted the Giants ahead of Week 15 ManningCast appearance

Christian McCaffrey has his cheeseballs and Giants zingers ready for his ManningCast appearance.

The NFL regular season is winding down, but the ManningCast with Peyton and Eli is still going strong.

There were some entertaining games in Week 15. The Tennessee Titans lost an overtime thriller to Case Keenum and the Houston Texans after pettily wearing their Oilers throwback uniforms. Also, the San Francisco 49ers steamrolled the Arizona Cardinals after an early struggle, leaving Christian McCaffrey in good spirits and dropping MTV references in the post-game presser. Glorious stuff.

The Manning brothers have impeccable timing because both McCaffrey and Keenum are joining the show Monday night. Famed ESPN Analyst Mina Kimes is also joining the madness.

The ManningCast airs Monday at 8:13 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

25 SKOL’s of Christmas: Teddy Bridgewater’s triumphant return

After everything he had been through, seeing Teddy return was a moment of pure joy

Welcome to the 25 SKOL’s of Christmas!

In a similar vein to how Freeform has done the 25 days of Christmas, we will look back at different moments in Vikings history to bring a little extra joy to you this holiday season.

It’s that simple. The holidays can be a trying time for some people and we want to put a smile on people’s faces by reminiscing about some truly joyous times in Vikings’ history.

On the eighteenth SKOL of Christmas, the Vikings gave to me: Teddy Bridgewater’s triumphant return to football.

The Minnesota Vikings were set up to make a real Super Bowl run in the 2016 season. They were coming off a season where they won the NFC North in dramatic fashion against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and dominated the wild card matchup against the Seattle Seahawks but they couldn’t get it done.

The confidence level surrounding the team was sky-high and the preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers gave even more hope to Vikings fans as he ran the offense to perfection with explosiveness.

That all came to an end on August 30th which ended up being a fateful day for the franchise.

Bridgewater didn’t just hurt his knee, he destroyed it. One wrong step caused a torn ACL and a brutal dislocation that without the quick reaction of head trainer Eric Sugarman, Bridgewater could have lost his leg.

The Vikings went into somewhat of a tailspin for the next few months. They traded first and fourth-round picks for Sam Bradford and, after a 5-0 start, they missed the playoffs at 8-8.

During the offseason, there was discussion about what this team would do at the quarterback position? They had Bradford on the roster and the injury prognosis was unknown. He ended up starting the season on injured reserve and didn’t start another game for the Vikings.

Once he was healthy, there was a lot of speculation that he would end up getting the starting job over Case Keenum, as he was winning games, but making multiple bonehead decisions per game had head coach Mike Zimmer openly questioning his quarterback.

While he never made the switch, Keenum led the Vikings on quite a journey. It ultimately ended in the NFC Championship Game, but one of the best moments in Vikings history came when they hosted the Cincinnati Bengals.

It ultimately ended up being a 34-7 win for the Vikings, but it was more about the moment. It was the game where Bridgewater made his triumphant return and the standing ovation was so loud, it felt like the roof of U.S. Bank Stadium was going to shatter.

While things never were quite the same for Bridgewater, that one moment will forever live in Vikings’ lore.

Previous SKOL’s of Christmas:

Drafting Randy Moss
Vikings 1997 Wild Card Comeback
Jarius Wright Walks Off the Jets
Jared Allen traded to Vikings
Adrian Peterson Sets Rushing Record
Brett Favre Revenge Tour
Bud Grant Rocks a Polo in Freezing Temperatures
Adrian Peterson Stiff Arms Defender to Oblivion
Anthony Carter Dominates the 1987 Playoffs
Kirk Cousins’ First Major Comeback
Randy Moss Dominates Monday Night Football
Tuesday Night Joe Webb
Randy Moss Laterals to Moe Williams
Miracle At The Met
Cris Carter catches number 1,000
Resurgence of Randall Cunningham
Sam Bradford Opens Up U.S. Bank Stadium

Texans Week 13 inactives: Dalton Schultz notably OUT vs. Broncos

Texans TE Dalton Schultz has been ruled out for Sunday’s game vs. Broncos.

The Houston Texans released their inactives for their Week 13 matchup against the Denver Broncos before kickoff on Sunday.

Quarterback Case Keenum, wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson, running back Mike Boone, defensive end Myjai Sanders, guard Nick Broeker and tight end Dalton Schultz were listed as inactive for the contest.

Keenum, Sanders and Broeker respectively have often found themselves inactive for this season. Boone has served exclusively in a backup capacity at running back while assisting on special teams. Hutchinson, albeit occasionally featured, has struggled to climb the depth chart as a sixth-round rookie in Houston’s talented passing offense.

Schultz stands alone as a major inactive for the Texans. His capable blocking and natural connection with rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud have been a key element to Houston’s passing game. In his place, tight end Brevin Jordan will be asked to step up.

The Texans and Broncos kick things off at 12 p.m. CT on CBS.

Texans have 4 former Broncos set to face their old team

Several former Broncos will face off against their former team on Sunday, including fullback Andrew Beck and running back Mike Boone.

When the Denver Broncos go on the road to face the Houston Texans this week, they will see some familiar faces.

Texans fullback Andrew Beck, who played for the Broncos from 2019-2022, has one rushing touchdown and one kickoff return for a touchdown this season.

Houston running back Mike Boone, who played in Denver from 2021-2022, has five carries and seven receptions this season. Boone has also returned four kickoffs.

Texans tight end Eric Saubert, who played for the Broncos from 2021-2022, is yet to catch a pass this season. Houston backup quarterback Case Keenum, who played in Denver in 2018, has only appeared in two games, completing two passes.

The Texans also have a former member of the Broncos’ coaching staff in tight ends coach Jake Moreland, who held that role in Denver last year.

Earlier this year, Houston also rostered former Broncos cornerback Darius Phillips and ex-Denver tight end Eric Tomlinson during training camp, but Phillips and Tomlinson failed to make the Texans’ 53-man roster this summer.

Beck, who has 236 snaps on offense and 128 snaps on special teams this year, will likely have the biggest role among ex-Broncos players this weekend.