Case Keenum didn't get any help from Jeff Maehl. He didn't get much assistance from Lestar Jean on several passes, including one that bounced right off Jean's face mask.

And he still just kept going back to the line and making plays.

Drops couldn't drop Case Keenum. And now he has a real chance to drop T.J. Yates out of the Houston Texans No. 2 quarterback spot.

Getting the kind of legitimate extended shot he never received in last year's preseason, Keenum led the Texans to 17 second half points, orchestrating two long drives that each took more than six minutes of game time. He completed 13 of 18 passes (with at least three drops among the five incompletions) for 125 yards and a touchdown in the Texans' preseason opener in Minnesota. He showed the kind of mobility that makes coach Gary Kubiak's bootleg-heavy offense look a little different.

Keenum just keeps making plays. Through everything. Drops, doubts, dumbos . . . it's all just noise to No. 7.

Keenum played confident and composed. In short, he looked like a real threat to Yates. Which come to think of it, is what I've been writing for months as the loud, often illogical chorus of Keenum media critics insisted it must all be smoke and mirrors, maintaining the former University of Houston star couldn't possibly have a real shot.

Yes, 610 AM's Nick Wright is frantically trying to come up with some anti-Keenum stats this Saturday morning.

No matter. Keenum just keeps making plays. Through everything. Drops, doubts, dumbos . . . it's all just noise to No. 7. It doesn't matter what breaks down around him — let a defensive lineman collapse his pocket. Keenum will move and throw. He doesn't need the perfect play. He just wants to make the play.

"That's a huge asset in this business," Kubiak says of Keenum's pocket mobility in his postgame radio interview. "You don't feel as a coach that you have to call a perfect play because he'll go make one."

Keenum makes several in a 27-13 Texans' August win. It doesn't mean anything in the standings. But it sure makes the rest of the preseason a lot more interesting.

T.J. Yates' Fight

This isn't a real competition because Yates is doing everything wrong. It's a competition because of how much Keenum is doing right.

Yates looked very shaky early, throwing several balls over receivers' heads. But that 34-yard touchdown toss to DeAndre Hopkins took guts. In a situation where an interception would have made his own critics howl, Yates showed confidence in giving the rookie a chance to go up and get the football. That shouldn't be overlooked.

Swagger counts in quarterbacks. And after seeing unquestioned, indispensable No. 1 quarterback Matt Schaub throw a 3-yard pass to Hopkins on third-and-6 in his only series, Yates' go-for-it bravado was welcome.

This isn't a real competition because Yates is doing everything wrong. It's a competition because of how much Keenum is doing right.

"It's pretty tight," Yates says of the backup battle in his own 610 AM radio interview from Minneapolis. "We've been splitting reps all camp long."

Kubiak is hardly taking it easy on Keenum. He got in the second-year quarterback's face a few times when Keenum walked to the sideline, particularly at the end of the third quarter. Kubiak didn't seem satisfied until Keenum led his second touchdown drive.

Kubiak is going to demand more too. Because he knows this thing is real. Case Keenum actually made it interesting months ago. Only now, it's becoming harder and harder for others to pretend it's not happening.

Every play made insures that.