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WK1: Colts at Texan Gameday & Discussion

Mills throws a couple of TD's to OJ Howard and "Mills might be our Qb for the long term," he gets sacked and it causes a turnover and we end up tying, "Mills is a scrub or backup at best!" I have no problem with being critical of Mills to some extent but I think people are prone to over exaggeration. Mills showed a lot of promise at the end of last season, thus he is our starting Qb this season. Let's give it a little more time than one game into his second season to label him a failed project.
 
TxnsJuggernaut1 said:
Mills throws a couple of TD's to OJ Howard and "Mills might be our Qb for the long term," he gets sacked and it causes a turnover and we end up tying, "Mills is a scrub or backup at best!" I have no problem with being critical of Mills to some extent but I think people are prone to over exaggeration. Mills showed a lot of promise at the end of last season, thus he is our starting Qb this season. Let's give it a little more time than one game into his second season to label him a failed project.
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Overall I like Mills as a player. He has areas he needs to improve and is obviously not working with an all star supporting cast. I think he has played well given the circumstances.

I wish the coaches were confident that he could make a play to win the game on 4th and 3 instead of conceding the tie. That tells me they don’t think he’s the guy and that annoys me since we were told otherwise all offseason. Their actions showed what they really think.
 
xtruroyaltyx said:
Mills doesn’t look like he’s taken the big step in growth that I wanted to see. I still think if he has a couple more weapons on offense you can win with him at QB, but I don’t see franchise cornerstone.

Luckily for him he’s got an entire season to come into form.
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Pierce a weapon and hopefully Kenyon Green. Add a center, Right Guard if Deculus doesn’t end there during season and another WR [cannot just hope Metchie returns to be WR2.] Nico Collins only 2 catches? 38 yards I think. Is that a play calling mistake?

Mills QBR 46?!?

RBs basically sucked.

Well Jonathan Taylor had 31 for 161 yards at over a 5 yard average...
 
badboy said:
Matt Ryan does not handle being moved around by the defense and he was definitely impacted in the first half. I think our defense just ran out of steam which is surprising sensor such a focus by all NFL teams on strength and conditioning. Also lovey likes to rotate his front seven which should keep them strong through the game. I just saw exhaustion written on all the players.

What happened to Neville Hewitt who as I understand "forced his way into the starter" role?
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I don't think they delt well with adversity and a momentum shift. It's possible they are out of shape but from my perspective their drop in play coincided with the forced turnover. The wind just seemed to come out of their sails. Being mentally sharp and overcoming such a momentum shift is another aspect of good coaching. If that played a part Lovie must take ownership of that.
 
badboy said:
Pierce a weapon and hopefully Kenyon Green. Add a center, Right Guard if Deculus doesn’t end there during season and another WR [cannot just hope Metchie returns to be WR2.] Nico Collins only 2 catches? 38 yards I think. Is that a play calling mistake?

Mills QBR 46?!?

RBs basically sucked.

Well Jonathan Taylor had 31 for 161 yards at over a 5 yard average...
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Taylor was just gashing the HOU D line.
 
badboy said:
Pierce a weapon and hopefully Kenyon Green. Add a center, Right Guard if Deculus doesn’t end there during season and another WR [cannot just hope Metchie returns to be WR2.] Nico Collins only 2 catches? 38 yards I think. Is that a play calling mistake?

Mills QBR 46?!?

RBs basically sucked.

Well Jonathan Taylor had 31 for 161 yards at over a 5 yard average...
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I thought Mills was 98.9?
 
leebigeztx said:
He did, but now he's out 4-6 weeks. Arch Manning coming in next year. He will probably hit the transfer portal. BTW, did you see that roughing penalty on that play? You said the nfl was soft.
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What's wrong with him? I haven't seen anything. I'm thinking he broke his collar bone. But I guess not.
 
TxnsJuggernaut1 said:
Mills throws a couple of TD's to OJ Howard and "Mills might be our Qb for the long term," he gets sacked and it causes a turnover and we end up tying, "Mills is a scrub or backup at best!" I have no problem with being critical of Mills to some extent but I think people are prone to over exaggeration. Mills showed a lot of promise at the end of last season, thus he is our starting Qb this season. Let's give it a little more time than one game into his second season to label him a failed project.
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I think Mills has the raw talent to be great, not just a game manager. But it is frustrating to see a regressive performance. Maybe some of us underestimated the Colts pass rush.
 
Texansphan said:
Yep - the lack of a running game rears it's ugly head again.
Add to that the lack of a dangerous receiving corp and you have a lack lustre offense.
I can't believe the pundits on this thread overlooking this when assessing Mills - then we still have to consider it is still only his 12 the start, not even a full season.
I reckon he would play with much more confidence with a decent offense.
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Hopefully Howard becomes Mills go to guy in the middle of the field. That would open up alot of different things. Draft Bijan and that big dude from Baylor. Also Stromberg. This would go a long way to solving the run game and being able to stop the run. Need to get Harris healthy and find another LB while they're at it.
 
badboy said:
Pierce a weapon and hopefully Kenyon Green. Add a center, Right Guard if Deculus doesn’t end there during season and another WR [cannot just hope Metchie returns to be WR2.] Nico Collins only 2 catches? 38 yards I think. Is that a play calling mistake?

Mills QBR 46?!?

RBs basically sucked.

Well Jonathan Taylor had 31 for 161 yards at over a 5 yard average...
Click to expand...


Mills QBR was 98.93
I think I will take that. He still needs to improve in some areas but he was not looking bad.
 
badboy said:
Pierce a weapon and hopefully Kenyon Green. Add a center, Right Guard if Deculus doesn’t end there during season and another WR [cannot just hope Metchie returns to be WR2.] Nico Collins only 2 catches? 38 yards I think. Is that a play calling mistake?

Mills QBR 46?!?

RBs basically sucked.

Well Jonathan Taylor had 31 for 161 yards at over a 5 yard average...
Click to expand...
Pierce should be a weapon. But with only 11 Carries and one reception (I think) he ain’t gonna be nothing but window dressing
 
TheRealJoker said:
I wish the coaches were confident that he could make a play to win the game on 4th and 3 instead of conceding the tie.
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Is it a lack of confidence in Mills or a lack of confidence in the team as a whole? The offensive line faded as the game went on. Surely they could be trusted needing only three yards to sustain the drive in such a big situation. You might be right TRJ and it was a matter of them lacking trust in Mills. I would hope that is not the case.
 
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SnakeEyes said:
Mills QBR was 98.93
I think I will take that. He still needs to improve in some areas but he was not looking bad.
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There is NO WAY his QBR was 98.93. That's an almost perfect game. The QBR system goes from 0 to 100. The Passer Rating system goes from 0 to 150 or 160 or thereabouts.
 
steelbtexan said:
Hopefully Howard becomes Mills go to guy in the middle of the field. That would open up alot of different things. Draft Bijan and that big dude from Baylor. Also Stromberg. This would go a long way to solving the run game and being able to stop the run. Need to get Harris healthy and find another LB while they're at it.
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I like the slot kid from Houston. They call him Tank?
Dude is a punt/kick off nightmare too.
 
TheRealJoker said:
Overall I like Mills as a player. He has areas he needs to improve and is obviously not working with an all star supporting cast. I think he has played well given the circumstances.

I wish the coaches were confident that he could make a play to win the game on 4th and 3 instead of conceding the tie. That tells me they don’t think he’s the guy and that annoys me since we were told otherwise all offseason. Their actions showed what they really think.
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I'm glad they didn't go for it on 4th and 3. If they failed then most likely the Colts would've had a chance to kick a FG for the win. Mid field and 19 seconds left with what the Colts did in the 4th qtr would've been to risky for my blood. The 3rd and 1 call after a timeout was horrendous.
 
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TxnsJuggernaut1 said:
Is it a lack of confidence in Mills or a lack of confidence in the team as a whole? The offensive line faded as the game went on. Surely they could be trusted needing only three yards to sustain the drive in such a big situation. You might be right TRJ and it was a matter of them lacking trust in Mills. I would hope that is not the case.
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They lack trust in someone. Could be all of them. But the lack of want-to with the game on the line was disappointing. I thought things were changing down on Kirby.
 
steelbtexan said:
I'm glad they didn't go forit on 4th and 3. If they failed then most likely the Colts would've had a chance to kick a FG for the win. Mid field and 19 seconds left with what the Colts did in the 4th qtr would've been to risky for my blood. The 3rd and 1 call after a timeout was horrendous.
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I can’t believe they ran Burkhead up the middle. Would be one thing if they had Pierce in but Burkhead?

As far as I was concerned that was 4 down territory. They had a chance to win or lose the game and gain valuable insight into their team that they could build upon. But they chose to tuck tail and tie which tells us all we need to know about what they think of their team.
 
Maybe I’m the lone wolf on this, but I just don’t see what y’all do in Davis Mills. 45 years of watching nfl qb’s don’t lie.

Yes he is worthy of an NFL roster, but he is bottom 4 or 5 of nfl starters. That’s what we aspire toward? To put it another way, how many NFL teams are swapping their starter for Mills straight up?
 
steelbtexan said:
Hopefully Howard becomes Mills go to guy in the middle of the field. That would open up alot of different things. Draft Bijan and that big dude from Baylor. Also Stromberg. This would go a long way to solving the run game and being able to stop the run. Need to get Harris healthy and find another LB while they're at it.
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Still a bit of rebuilding to do yet.
 
Porky said:
Maybe I’m the lone wolf on this, but I just don’t see what y’all do in Davis Mills. 45 years of watching nfl qb’s don’t lie.

Yes he is worthy of an NFL roster, but he is bottom 4 or 5 of nfl starters. That’s what we aspire toward? To put it another way, how many NFL teams are swapping their starter for Mills straight up?
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It's only one game, but Mills is not "bottom 4 or 5". His QBR has him ranked 16th.
 
steelbtexan said:
I'm glad they didn't go forit on 4th and 3. If they failed then most likely the Colts would've had a chance to kick a FG for the win. Mid field and 19 seconds left with what the Colts did in the 4th qtr would've been to risky for my blood. The 3rd and 1 call after a timeout was horrendous.
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& the Texans would be lucky to pick up three yards.

The Colts turned it over twice on downs. Reich's trust in his offense didn't win the game. Stupid to think Lovie "believing" in that offense we saw today was the difference between winning &
tying
 
Porky said:
Maybe I’m the lone wolf on this, but I just don’t see what y’all do in Davis Mills. 45 years of watching nfl qb’s don’t lie.

Yes he is worthy of an NFL roster, but he is bottom 4 or 5 of nfl starters. That’s what we aspire toward? To put it another way, how many NFL teams are swapping their starter for Mills straight up?
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Let me guess, you're a Kyler Murray fan?
 
beerlover said:
Roll with it for awhile but not too long, just long enough to be absolutely sure.
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I agree.

5 QBs with better college careers & way more talented than he was drafted ahead of him. Not one was better than he was today.

We could draft the next Tom Brady but if we don't get this 2.8 ypc running game fixed it's not going to matter. Just another wasted draft pick
 
Number19 said:
It's only one game, but Mills is not "bottom 4 or 5". His QBR has him ranked 16th.
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I trust my eyes not some meaningless number. If you can’t hit Cooks for a TD on a wide open flea flicker you have no business starting. That’s a play a good QB makes with his eyes closed and it’s 6 points. Even though it’s woefully under thrown it shows up good on passer ratings because it was completed.

you got multiple gifts late because their kicker is crap, and you do absolutely nothing with them. Not to mentions all of the terrible sideline passes all day long. That’s not a QB I want. He is a backup, nothing more and nothing less. The sooner the rest of you acknowledge the obvious, the faster we can move on and find the right guy. Fortunately, I think Nick sees what I do and isn’t into the excuses you guys keep espousing. We will have a new QB next year.
 
Last year the Colts beat the Texans a combined 62-3 and then added a MVP QB so most were expecting more of the same today.
They had to score an unanswered 17 straight points to eke out a tie. I was very pleased with the game right up until the last 8 minutes.
I know the Texans should have won that game, but I'd much rather see a tie than a loss
 
Porky said:
I trust my eyes not some meaningless number. If you can’t hit Cooks for a TD on a wide open flea flicker you have no business starting. That’s a play a good QB makes with his eyes closed and it’s 6 points. Even though it’s woefully under thrown it shows up good on passer ratings because it was completed.

you got multiple gifts late because their kicker is crap, and you do absolutely nothing with them. Not to mentions all of the terrible sideline passes all day long. That’s not a QB I want. He is a backup, nothing more and nothing less. The sooner the rest of you acknowledge the obvious, the faster we can move on and find the right guy. Fortunately, I think Nick sees what I do and isn’t into the excuses you guys keep espousing. We will have a new QB next year.
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Ranking systems rate all the qb's against each other. Unless you are watching all the games and evaluating all the qb's, looking at Mills and saying he stinks is objectively meaningless. As the season progresses, the ratings will begin to give a clearer indication how the qb's rank compared to each other.

This is not to say that Mills is the qb we may want to go forward with, but if the Texans end the season with one of the better qb's in the league, statistically, then maybe the team should look at other positions with a higher priority for improvement.
 
JB said:
Did he ever address the play call on 3rd down? Why didn't they put Driskell in there? Did anyone ask those questions?
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Yes he said (paraphrasing) that it was the best move to punt it there. If we didn’t get it, then that would’ve put the Colts in good field position. And all they needed was one play to put them in range to kick a FG. That it was best to be tied versus losing.
 
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Porky said:
Maybe I’m the lone wolf on this, but I just don’t see what y’all do in Davis Mills. 45 years of watching nfl qb’s don’t lie.

Yes he is worthy of an NFL roster, but he is bottom 4 or 5 of nfl starters. That’s what we aspire toward? To put it another way, how many NFL teams are swapping their starter for Mills straight up?
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It may be because you're expecting him to be further along in his learning curve than the rest of us expect. This was his 12th NFL start, and his first behind a reshuffled and halfway functional O-line.

Watch his highlights from last season to see what the rest of us see in Mills. (131) Davis Mills | 2021 Rookie Highlights - YouTube

He was 2 for 2 on those flea flickers for TD's. Not sure why he underthrew it today.

If you remove that awful Buffalo game in the rain, he'd have the best stats of all rookies yet had the worst O-line.

I've made this point often and it's still worth repeating: As a fan base, we don't have much experience suffering through the painful development of pocket passing rookie QB's. We had Carr, then trades from other teams, Savage briefly, then a scrambler in Watson. Scramblers conceal their progress toward learning the scheme and seeing the field, while the development of a pocket passer is transparent and often ugly. But history proves it's best to rely on a pocket passer because they execute the plays as designed. It keeps the offense on schedule and keeps the game managed.

That said, it would be nice if Mills knew when to bail on the pocket at times. Diving forward on 3rd and 1 today could've won us the game.
 
Porky said:
I trust my eyes not some meaningless number. If you can’t hit Cooks for a TD on a wide open flea flicker you have no business starting. That’s a play a good QB makes with his eyes closed and it’s 6 points. Even though it’s woefully under thrown it shows up good on passer ratings because it was completed.

you got multiple gifts late because their kicker is crap, and you do absolutely nothing with them. Not to mentions all of the terrible sideline passes all day long. That’s not a QB I want. He is a backup, nothing more and nothing less. The sooner the rest of you acknowledge the obvious, the faster we can move on and find the right guy. Fortunately, I think Nick sees what I do and isn’t into the excuses you guys keep espousing. We will have a new QB next year.
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I’ve seen the great Tom Brady under throw his receivers like that a bunch over his hall of fame career. Patrick Mahomas has done that too. It happens to the best of them.
 
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