Put down your sunshine glasses and read Brisco_County's post in the game thread.
He's a strong supporter of Mills, but he's more realistic than most.
Death to Google Ads! Texans Talk Tip Jar! 🍺😎👍
Thanks for your support!
Davis Mills vs rookie QBs
- Thread starter Dejaview
- Start date
He's a strong supporter of Mills, but he's more realistic than most.
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
Before these last few games, I would’ve said Mills’ shot has come & gone. After these last 2 and these next 3, if he continues to show growth….even though it’s been infinitesimal in certain areas, I would say that he has at least earned consideration for the gig next year.
The problem you’re having with him right now is you can’t accurately gauge how good he actually is & can be b/c he’s got so little help…. From the talent around him to the playcalling & scheme….it’s just hard to imagine him NOT becoming a much better qb with even an average to decent run game, a bit better protection and a play caller who can call plays within the flow of the game.
At the same time, I see some major red flags in his game right now that could be just rookie things & can be corrected, but are also things that could also be considered “hallmarks” of not -franchise worthy/good qbs.
That’s why next offseason will be critical for him. He’s gotta show some real tangible growth from this year to make me feel comfy. NC bringing in a better play caller & offense could go a long way for Mills.
The problem you’re having with him right now is you can’t accurately gauge how good he actually is & can be b/c he’s got so little help…. From the talent around him to the playcalling & scheme….it’s just hard to imagine him NOT becoming a much better qb with even an average to decent run game, a bit better protection and a play caller who can call plays within the flow of the game.
At the same time, I see some major red flags in his game right now that could be just rookie things & can be corrected, but are also things that could also be considered “hallmarks” of not -franchise worthy/good qbs.
That’s why next offseason will be critical for him. He’s gotta show some real tangible growth from this year to make me feel comfy. NC bringing in a better play caller & offense could go a long way for Mills.
We don't know.
We're going to get a chance to find out. Hopefully next yr he gets a chance to continue to develop behind a much better ol.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Can you please list those red flags?
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
trying to layer every throw and not really throwing them or committing to the throw if that makes sense. Sometimes he tries to be too perfect with it…makes me think he’s thinking too much about the mechanics of the throw instead of everything else pertinent to the success of the play.
Throwing off his back foot…really bad habit he has & needs to be broken immediately. Throwing off-platform is reserved for the elite arm talents…& Mills is decidedly not in the Mahomes, Rodgers territory there.
Breaking the pocket too early at times…a lot of his sacks he runs himself into b/c he climbs, let’s 1 DE go by him ….which is what you’re supposed to do…but then he breaks out sideways right into the path of the other DE being washed behind him. If your gonna leave, you either go ahead and run it or break out & press the LOS with your head downfield.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Great observation as usual Tex.
I will add he stares down his receivers too much. And he doesn’t go through any type of progressions.
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
At times he does stare down guys but a lot of that is b/c the plays being called are 1-2 read short quick passes…can’t really look guys off with those. But he does try to go thru his progressions too when he has 3 or more. He just hasn’t quite mastered it yet. you can tell when a mostly inexperienced guy is trying to do this b/c there’s alot of pump faking and/or double clutching of throws….it signals that either they’re missing windows to pass on certain routes and/or they were fooled presnap…b/c a lot of guys predetermine where they want to throw the ball and get caught in no man’s land when they’re 1st read gets covered up and they have to find somewhere else to go with the ball.
Number19
Hall of Fame
Not intirely accurate, although he does do this and needs to correct this habit. But you also see him going through his progressions, looking in one direction, then looking in another direction. You also see him looking downfield before dumping off to his safety valve.
Great post,
My biggest issue is Mills trying to layer the ball too much instead of letting it rip.
He got fooled on the int because the CB dropped coverage on the guy he was covering and intercepted the throw on the 2nd guy in the route. This tells me he was staring down the 2nd guy. Getting picked because of staring guys down seems to happen about once a game. Even then if Mills had let the throw rip it most likely would've been incomplete rather than an int. Maybe even a completion like on the throw to Akins.
Number19
Hall of Fame
Not saying this doesn't happen, but he's had 5 games out of 10 without an INT. In fact, he's only had 9 INT's, with 4 of those coming against Buffalo on Oct 3 and 2 coming against the Colts on Oct 17. Since this Colts game he's had 2 INT's in 5 games.
I've seen him staring down receivers, but this bad habit hasn't resulted in an INT problem. Correcting it may help increase his completion percentage, though.
Wow I didn't realize Mills had improved that much.
Better than any QB not named Mac Jones. After Seeing Lawrence/Fields and a little bit of Wilson this weekend, it looks like Mills is better than all of them.
I’m good with Mills. I’m enjoying watching him grow. But, nobody is asking Mills to win a game.
we’re averaging 2.4 ypc or something in the run game & they’re asking him to throw the ball 6 yards down the field. They’re protecting Mills. Keeping him from making mistakes. If we win, great.
May be smart. May be the best way to bring a young QB along on a bad team. But I don’t think his “stats” compared to other rookies say what we want to believe.
Hopefully they’ll let him off the leash against the Titans. That should be fun to watch.
How does the Texans OL/Run game compare to what the other rookie QB's have to work with?
What do the stats say and what do you believe? I believe we've got a rookie QB that's learning on the job.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Watson had terrible oline play as well and he still did his thing because of his ability to extend plays. You didn't back him up like you're doing for Mills. Pretty conflicting imho.
You're right Mills/Derrick hae one thing in common as rookie QB's. They both are playing behind 2 of the worst OL's that I've seen. Which one do you think is worst. I wont argue with you regardless of which one you choose.
Wrong, after Derrick's rookie yr I said that I missed on my draft eval and thought he was the future. After seeing Derrick making the same mistakes in yr 3 as he made in yr 1 I knew that you cant win a championship with a selfish person like Derrick.
Number19
Hall of Fame
Watson was a mobile qb. Mills is a pocket passer. The question is, what type of qb do the Texans want to build around? The answer to this will impact the draft, both 2022 and 2023. The only clue we have is they made no move to trade up to select Kellen Mond.
Houston Texans
3-11
Just prior to this season's kickoff, I predicted Houston would go 0-17. David Culley proved me wrong in Week 1. But that wasn't the only thing I got wrong about this Texans team.
When Houston selected Davis Mills in the third round of the 2021 NFL Draft, I thought it was wasteful, especially considering it was the Texans' highest pick. Well, once again, I was wrong. General manager Nick Caserio deserves credit here. You can make the argument that Mills has been the second-best rookie quarterback this season, behind only Mac Jones. And on Sunday, he outplayed No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence in Houston's 30-16 win at Jacksonville.
***
NFL winners and losers of Week 15: Colts and 49ers peaking; Cardinals and Ravens raising eyebrows
Who were the biggest winners and losers from a wild weekend of NFL action in Week 15? Adam Schein spotlights nine teams, including the surging Colts and the sagging Cardinals.
www.nfl.com
We’re talking about teams picking in the top 5 for the most part. They’re more or less the same.
but again, I’m saying it’s different when you have a guy trying to win a game & another guy just trying to not make mistakes. Zach Wilson’s numbers may looks damnig, & Davis Mills numbers look ineffective. You still end up with 3 or 4 wins.
That’s not an insult or a negative criticism of Mills.
Normally teams throw their rookie QBs to the wolves then try to reduce the mistakes. The way they’re doing it with Mills is rare. But may be the better way.
Texansballer74
The Marine
Well if Mills is there guy then they will have to build for a pocket passer. Kelly was accustomed to the mobile type quarterback. Therefore, he’s limited to what he actually wants to do right now. That’s one of the reasons why I believe he’s not making any halftime or in game adjustments.
They brought TT here because of his mobility as well and his veteran experience. Unfortunately TT was very inaccurate and made some of the dumbest decisions with the football. So they had no other choice but to bench him.
The Bears have a much better run game and so do the Jags with Robinson. The NYJ run game is comparable but not as bad as the Texans run game. IMHO
Agree with the last sentence.
Which is weird because it's not like Mills is slow of foot.
Number19
Hall of Fame
Yes, "build for a pocket passer".
TheRealJoker
Hall of Fame
Texans have by far the worst running game in the league. The second worst team gets over 7 yards per game more. Jets are 3rd worst gaining 85.4 yds/game to the Texans 77.4
2023 NFL Offense Total Team Stat Leaders - ESPN
ESPN is the place for NFL stats! Find a list of the Offense Total team stat leaders for the 2023 NFL Regular Season.
www.espn.com
they kept trying to treat Watson as if he was a pocket passer, then let him adlib when the play broke down. They’ve moved the pocket more for Mills than they ever did for Watson.
they brought Taylor in because of his familiarity with Culley & his ability to make something happen when the play broke down.
21/27 254 yards 2 TDs 0 INTs
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
Kid put together a whole game for the 1st time in his pro career today. Very nice. He has definitely earned strong consideration to be the guy going into next year…maybe even with no competition.
All that being said, I think this game made it pretty evident where we need to go next year in the 1st round. Neal or Libderbaum…With a run game, Mills looked soooo much better & any of these top rated 1st round OL prospects needs to be wearing Steel blue next year.
All that being said, I think this game made it pretty evident where we need to go next year in the 1st round. Neal or Libderbaum…With a run game, Mills looked soooo much better & any of these top rated 1st round OL prospects needs to be wearing Steel blue next year.
Texansphan
Football connoisseur
He has shown continuous improvement each game. I've been saying for a while all he needed was a decent running game and a decent Oline.
Today he showed he belongs in the NFL and he is STILL raw.
Number19
Hall of Fame
Mills also outplayed Mac Jones 14/32; 145 yds, 0 tds, 2 ints
Last edited:
CloakNNNdagger
Hall of Fame
Joe Burrow threw for 524 yards today
ATXtexanfan
Hall of Fame
Yup up against him in fantasy. Bengals swept raven and steelers. They have a nice team
Texansballer74
The Marine
Gonna need more time than that. At least another year.
Last edited:
Texansphan
Football connoisseur
Agree.
Upgrade that running game and get him another weapon or two to throw to.
Won't hurt to upgrade the Oline as well.
Fair chance Burkhead won't be here next year so RB is a big area of need. If he stays, a genuine threat and 1-2 punch in the backfield would be nice.
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
You'll notice I didn't say he was our future starter. I said it's settled on whether or not he was a good pick for the 3rd round. Which he is.
Texansballer74
The Marine
We have to give credit to we’re it truly belongs. That offensive line balled out, by far their best performance all year. They protected the youngster, given him tons of time to throw the ball and go threw his progressions. They opened up big holes for Burkhead to run through, his best performance as well. Kelly was finally able to run his playbook to near perfection.
Another beautiful thing I saw today was the blocking by the backs. They, mainly Burkhead picked of the blitz darn near every time the Chargers sent one.
Last edited:
Texansballer74
The Marine
And again I will say time will tell.
Toro Bravo
Rookie
While I agree that Watson is a mobile QB, I don't agree that Mills is not. True, Mills is more of a pocket passer but he certainly has the ability to move/run, it seems he chooses not to or is not forced to run so much.
Mills 40 time (4.66 and 4.58) is actually better than Deshaun (4.68 and 4.67), and Mills is bigger. I always thought Deshaun held the ball too long and that is why he was forced to run. However, he is definitely one of the best when the pocket breaks down and he has to improvise.
I think Mills will be a capable QB in the NFL. Just not yet sure how capable.
amazing80
Hall of Fame
Mills is showing enough to roll with next year. Start building the long-term team and allow him time to develop (2 more years) and then once the team is in place, we either roll with him (if he is good) or find a long-term QB.
Not 100% convinced on him yet, but he is making enough progress to continue down this path.
Not 100% convinced on him yet, but he is making enough progress to continue down this path.
Thorn
Dirty Old Man
If Mills has one more good game out of the next two, whether we win them or not, I don't think they'll be using a high round pick next year on a QB.
Number19
Hall of Fame
I agree. What I meant was, a mobile QB's mobility is a large part of his game, often with plays designed for him to run, but more often a QB who takes off when opportunity presents itself. Mills has escapability mobility and I agree there should be run pass options designed for him. It would make him more effective as a passer if the defense has to take into account a tendency for him to run.
These stats are after week 14, but:
Tannehill had 225 rushing yards,
Jalen Hurts, 695 yds,
Taylor Heineken, 297 yds,
Cam Newton, 310 yds,
Justin Fields, 385 yds.
Mills had 27 rushing yards
Speedy
Former Yeller Dweller
They shouldn’t regardless. This team needs a ton before a QB really matters.
CloakNNNdagger
Hall of Fame
In your list of stats after week 14, you left out Brady..............68 yds rushing (<5 yds/game).
Number19
Hall of Fame
Yes. I see Mills as a Brady type. If he could only be half as good!
My list came from the bottom half of qb's; those ranked 17 - 32. I should go online and see the division between the two styles within the top 16 qb's.