Brother why are you getting upset about us calling the rookie out. He looked terrible on yesterday. If he had a good to great game, most of us would’ve gave him his praises. But as of yesterday he looked like he wasn’t ready for that type of defense and the extra plays from the playbook.
2 of his ints came when he was trying to force it to Miller. No doubt something they’ve been trying to do..get Miller more involved as a 2nd option behind Cooks.
1st drive 1st play, holding on Howard started out 1st and 20 in the shadow of our own goalposts..drive killer off top..rain was also coming down it’s hardest at this point in the game..both qbs had issues.
2nd drive, great play by Hughes tipping the ball on that 4th down throw…
3rd drive got a great run from Ingram to put us on the other side of the 50. 2nd down, play action boot, Mills rolls right and has Cooks underneath right in from of him running a drag..probably should’ve taken that instead of throwing it deeper to Conley on the comeback..incomplete..3rd down forced inside to Miller who wasn’t really open…int.
4th drive, 1st and 10..face mask on Brown. 1st and 25.(tipped int drive)
5th drive after the half..started getting into a little bit of Ryhtym 1st and 10 after getting a 1st down, Mills escapes pressure, throws on the run downfield to a wide open cooks…misses badly, but it wouldn’t have mattered if he’d completed it, it was coming back b/c of a holding penalty on Scharp..pretty much killed the drive right there despite working it back to a 3rd & 11 with a screen pass.
6th drive..started out with 2 nice throws 1 to Cooks, 1 to Akins……who had the 1st already by a mile…but for some inexplicable reason, extends the ball out like he’s reaching for a 1st..fumble. Drive over.
7th drive..moving the ball nicely with 2 really good throws to Cooks for 2 first downs…scrambled for a few yards under pressure as well…then underthrows the deep ball to Miller..pick. He didn’t need to force it there, couldve hit someone underneath ..Buff would’ve gave him that all day…..not a good decision by him…but the score is 33-0….8 min left..the int is pretty much irrelevant at this point. He’s just trying to make something happen.
OK, I've looked at all the pass plays. And I'm going to say it - Mills was not as bad as being accused. He wasn't really good, but he wasn't really bad. He played like a rookie.
In the 1st Q he had 5 passes with 1 completion and 1 INT.
The interception was a really bad decision, all on Mills. Otherwise, the incompletions were not really noteworthy, the worst being the first pass attempt into the flat with the defender already in Mills face with his hands up.
In the 2nd Q, there were only 4 pass attempts. 2 resulted in sacks with the receivers all covered. One incompletion was a really bad decision throwing into triple team coverage with an open receiver in the flat. The INT really wasn't a bad decision or bad throw. Mills was under pressure when a rusher came in untouched. He attempts to drill the ball to his receiver open in the middle of the field. The ball appears to have been on target, but was deflected at the LOS.
In the 3rd Q, Mills attempted only 3 passes, with a 4th nullified by a penalty. He had 2 completions and, under pressure, threw the 3rd ball away.
In the 4th Q, Mills attempted 11 passes, with 8 completions. He tried 2 deep passes with 1 INT and 1 broken up. This was a 50-50 ball well thrown to Cooks (I believe, maybe Miller). The 11th pass was an INT totally on the receiver. The ball was thrown perfectly into his hands and he just let it slip out for the interception.
So, I have Mills making only 2 really bad throws/decisions. He was under a lot of pressure for the whole game. Considering the opponent and the weather, I would grade Mills performance as a C.
He has one serious habit he needs to break and that is a tendency to throw into coverage or into a tight window.