NFC Notes: Keenum, Floyd, Fitzgerald, Vaccaro

After stopping a surging Rams team in their tracks today, the Vikings stand at 8-2 and clearly are one of the best teams in the NFL, thanks in large part to the play of third-string quarterback Case Keenum. The 29 year-old backup has performed past all reasonable expectations when he was needed to hold down the fort for the injured Sam Bradford just until former first round pick Teddy Bridgewater returned from injury. However, Keenum has impressed throwing for 280 yards or more in the last three games, including seven touchdowns and just three picks in that span. His recent play has called for Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune to say that the debate for who should be Minnesota’s signal caller for the remainder of the season should be put to rest.

Scoggins opines that Bridgewater’s return has been emotional and uplifting, but Keenum puts the team in the best position to win now and in the playoffs. In his mind, Keenum is playing with too much confidence to make a change at this point, and in his opinion reporters should stop asking the question of who’s going to start after every game the team plays.

• Talented Bears pass rusher Leonard Floyd was carted off the field in today’s loss to the Lions, and it seems like the linebacker has suffered a “really serious” knee injury, according to Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com. Dickerson notes that Floyd collided with cornerback Kyle Fuller‘s knee on a play in the fourth quarter and stayed on the ground for a long time before getting taken off the field. “Leonard Floyd left with what looks like a really serious knee injury,” Bears coach John Fox said. “I hate to speculate, but usually when you get taken out on a cart, it’s not great. We’ll evaluate it. I’ll talk to our doctors more today and tonight, and we will continue to evaluate tomorrow.” Floyd has not graded out all too well by Pro Football Focus this season, accumulating a mediocre 74.8 grade so far this season. But the 25-year-old showed much promise in his rookie campaign in 2016 when the edge defender tallied seven sacks in the 12 games he appeared in.
• Despite recently signing a contract extension for next season, Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald continues to dodge questions about his future in the league, reports Kent Somers of AZCentral.com. “I’m only focused on Jacksonville,” Fitzgerald said of next week’s opponent. “We lost a tough one today. We’ve got a really, really, really good defense coming in at home this weekend and two good defenses following them (Rams, Titans). We’ve got to focus on that and that’s where all my attention is focused.” This can be expected from Fitz considering that he’s never been one to reveal much to the media, but it’s still notable because of the trying season Arizona is going through for the second straight year. The 34-year-old pass catcher can still clearly play and is putting up numbers to prove it, but football is a tough game and it remains to be seen what he will decide to do moving forward when he has no more games to look to after Week 17.
• The Saints pulled off a tremendous comeback win when they came back from 15 points down to beat the Redskins in overtime to win their eighth straight game. Safety Kenny Vaccaro made a note of the winning streak on his personal Twitter account today and also made the proclamation that he would be ready to return for the team’s game vs. the Rams next Sunday (Twitter link). The news should be taken with a grain of salt considering the team’s doctors haven’t cleared him to return, but it’s certainly a positive development for New Orleans who have had to be without their starting safety for the past two weeks as he’s been recovering from a groin injury.