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Davis Mills getting no respect

thunderkyss said:
I think Mills will be, not might be, better than those guys when he gets 4 or 5 years under his belt.

The next 3 games are going to show us more who Mills is than the last 3. He's learning his 2nd system in two years.
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I very much hope you’re right. He’s got 11 games and honestly for me to feel excitement about Mills I need like 4-5 of those games to be as good as the Raiders game with 1-2 games where he’s even better than that, where he really shines. Basically there needs to be more bad than good over the next 11 weeks so I guess we’ll see.
 
I think I'm in the minority, if not the only one, that thinks alot of problems Mills is having is because of Pep. I saw Mills play better last year, so I have to think he has the ability to play at least that well every time. However, since Pep took over at the start of this season, Mills looks like a completely different QB. I'm not there, so I don't know if what I think is true, but I think Pep is holding Mills back. Even this season, we've seen Mills play better when he is given more room to play. I'm not saying Mills is the next coming of anyone, but I believe he is better than what we've seen so far.
 
thunderkyss said:
I look at Mills like a bird in the hand. If he's going to get us bounced out of the divisional round a couple of years, then we can get a Mahomes (who sat one year), or Herbert (who's having a hard time getting his team to the playoffs, thanks to the Davis Mills azwhupin)...

He's Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Jimmy Garoppolo... maybe. So I agree, you don't need a generational Prototypical prospect. But you don't need Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Zach Mettneberg, Vince Young, Marcus Mariotta.

Not many people here are happy with Pep Hamilton. Some think he'll be poached as a HC. Before we draft a QB, I'd like to be more "secure" in what we're going to do for coaching.
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Valid point that most are missing. They say they don’t like Pep and Lovie but want to immediately expose a new QB to them. Better to wait.

Bad coaching can screw up a good QB prospect.
 
76Texan said:
It rhymes with all the sources we had.
Some member(s) here (who are Mill's defenders) even admit that the pass block hasn't been too bad this year.

And the Dolphins were coming off a year where their pass block was deemed historically bad by numerous sources, including PFF.

PFF is a source where Steelb used to say that Tunsil is the 5th or 6th best LT.

They also said that the Dolphins have two very weak links on the offensive line; worse than the two weak links on the Texans Oline.
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Don't misquote me, I can speak very well for myself. I've always said that PFF is part of the equation, not the whole equation. I just used to LOL at posters who think PFF is gospel but ignored the fact that Tunsil has consistently been one of PFF's top rated LT, in addition to being a multiple time pro bowler.

Do you think I'm a Mills defender? LOL, I just want to wait until 2024 to draft a QB if Mills doesn't improve. That's why I don't care if Mills is the QB next year or not. If he's the QB. In fact if he's as bad as you make him out to be, I really want him to be the QB even more because that means Caserio will have a top pick in the 2024 draft and their are 3 QB's I like better than any QB in the upcoming draft. Win-win
 
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thunderkyss said:
I look at Mills like a bird in the hand. If he's going to get us bounced out of the divisional round a couple of years, then we can get a Mahomes (who sat one year), or Herbert (who's having a hard time getting his team to the playoffs, thanks to the Davis Mills azwhupin)...

He's Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Jimmy Garoppolo... maybe. So I agree, you don't need a generational Prototypical prospect. But you don't need Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Zach Mettneberg, Vince Young, Marcus Mariotta.

Not many people here are happy with Pep Hamilton. Some think he'll be poached as a HC. Before we draft a QB, I'd like to be more "secure" in what we're going to do for coaching.
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Well I’m saying that to me looks like his ceiling. Like give him a couple of years and maybe he can be at that Alex Smith level. Not that he’s there right now
 
TexansBull said:
Valid point that most are missing. They say they don’t like Pep and Lovie but want to immediately expose a new QB to them. Better to wait.

Bad coaching can screw up a good QB prospect.
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I’m cool with waiting till 2024 to draft a QB but I want Lovie gone this offseason and maybe Pep too. It’s not gonna happen and I get that but Lovie is just not a good head coach anymore. I understand what happened over the off-season and where we were as a franchise and I understand that it’s a bad look to fire another coach after one year.

But all that being said Lovie is not our coach of the future and if it were up to me I’d politely show him the door after our last game and do an actual coaching search this offseason now that our franchise isn’t as much of a dumpster fire as it has been.
 
Texansballer74 said:
Why are we cursing. Dude I watched every freaking game and I know wtf I saw out there. And heck yeah, that’s his freaking job. You want to be a darn starter in this league, you have to come up big in big moments.

A fan should expect to see a good the product on the freaking field. People are investing their money and time on these teams. Like I said before, most of these Texans fans are programmed to look at failure and be satisfied with it.

They’re is nothing wrong with disagreeing, so why are you getting all caught up in your feelings. Are you kin to Mills or something?
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I know what I see also, so I guess we see different things. And that's ok. Everybody has a different eye for talent. Obviously, Caserio saw enough to give Mills the opportunity, and I can see why. He's got arm talent, and it's on display every week. Whether it becomes consistent enough and whether the intangibles align is still an open question.

I just don't generally agree with your assessments on Mills, so that's why we're debating. From what I gather, it's a mixed camp of believers on Mills potential and those who believe he's 'not the guy'. From Caseario's perspective, I don't know which camp is out in front currently. I guess it depends on how the rest of the season pans out and what he thinks about the upside of the top Qbs in the draft.
 
thunderkyss said:
I look at Mills like a bird in the hand. If he's going to get us bounced out of the divisional round a couple of years, then we can get a Mahomes (who sat one year), or Herbert (who's having a hard time getting his team to the playoffs, thanks to the Davis Mills azwhupin)...

He's Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Jimmy Garoppolo... maybe. So I agree, you don't need a generational Prototypical prospect. But you don't need Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker, Zach Mettneberg, Vince Young, Marcus Mariotta.

Not many people here are happy with Pep Hamilton. Some think he'll be poached as a HC. Before we draft a QB, I'd like to be more "secure" in what we're going to do for coaching.
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Pending what happens through the rest of the season, where I assume much more clarity on the immediate future of Mills will unfold, perhaps the best solution is to draft a Day 2 or late 1st round QB (perhaps a little raw, but with talent) and have those two compete for the position next year? Interesting scenarios to pay out which are development-dependent to close out the season.

Also, good point of Mills being a Alex Smith/Ryan Tannehill/Jimmy G type player. That could be Mills ultimate ceiling, which is still starting quality. But it also might be higher (or lower) than that. Nobody knows yet as performance has been a mixed bag and he's deeply inexperienced still learning a new offense. But I see a whole bunch of people making up their minds like Game 2 or 3 into the season (even after the Game 1 collapse!) that he isn't the guy, despite Mills having an overall good game, because he didn't finish. Expectations are reactionary and not inline with what should be a fair developmental process. Just IMO.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
I know what I see also, so I guess we see different things. And that's ok. Everybody has a different eye for talent. Obviously, Caserio saw enough to give Mills the opportunity, and I can see why. He's got arm talent, and it's on display every week. Whether it becomes consistent enough and whether the intangibles align is still an open question.

I just don't generally agree with your assessments on Mills, so that's why we're debating. From what I gather, it's a mixed camp of believers on Mills potential and those who believe he's 'not the guy'. From Caseario's perspective, I don't know which camp is out in front currently. I guess it depends on how the rest of the season pans out and what he thinks about the upside of the top Qbs in the draft.
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I was a believer after his last five games from last season. My thoughts were if he continues to improve and show progression. We wouldn’t have to worry about the quarterback position in the next two drafts. We could continue to build the rest of the roster. Right now he’s only showed me regression.
 
Texansballer74 said:
I was a believer after his last five games from last season. My thoughts were if he continues to improve and show progression. We wouldn’t have to worry about the quarterback position in the next two drafts. We could continue to build the rest of the roster. Right now he’s only showed me regression.
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Fair enough, but I guess we're going to disagree again. I say this because Mills came into the season with 1) A new OC; 2) A new offense, even if it is somewhat similar to the one ran last year' and 3) NFL teams have game tape on Mills now to make adjustments.

So **in context**, I don't really see all this regression that people are talking about. And over the past 2 or 3 games, to me he looks pretty similar to the guy he was to finish off last year. Now, am I a little disappointed he hasn't clearly made the next step yet? A little bit. But IMO, that's kind of hard to do when you have a regressing WR1, crappy WR 3/4, RB2 and TE's. To be fair, Collins is improving and he has a running game now, so that should help.

So, ultimately, I'm in the camp that Mills perhaps regressed a little bit early (after the Colts game), but now looks like he's caught up to speed roughly from where he left off last year. I want to see clear advancement though, and I can agree that hasn't happened yet. It's a 17 game season fortunately...
 
ben.aires.smith said:
Fair enough, but I guess we're going to disagree again. I say this because Mills came into the season with 1) A new OC; 2) A new offense, even if it is somewhat similar to the one ran last year' and 3) NFL teams have game tape on Mills now to make adjustments.

So **in context**, I don't really see all this regression that people are talking about. And over the past 2 or 3 games, to me he looks pretty similar to the guy he was to finish off last year. Now, am I a little disappointed he hasn't clearly made the next step yet? A little bit. But IMO, that's kind of hard to do when you have a regressing WR1, crappy WR 3/4, RB2 and TE's. To be fair, Collins is improving and he has a running game now, so that should help.

So, ultimately, I'm in the camp that Mills perhaps regressed a little bit early (after the Colts game), but now looks like he's caught up to speed roughly from where he left off last year. I want to see clear advancement though, and I can agree that hasn't happened yet. It's a 17 game season fortunately...
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Pep was here last season and I lot of people believed he was calling those games anyways. Remember he was the quarterbacks coach. Not only that but the offense they’re running is somewhat similar to what he ran at Stanford..

To me he is not throwing the side line passes with accuracy. He’s not going threw his progressions, his footwork is off on a lot of his throws. Last he is not stepping up in the pocket on a consistent basis. The last game I saw him doing all of that.
 
Doc108 said:
I’m cool with waiting till 2024 to draft a QB but I want Lovie gone this offseason and maybe Pep too. It’s not gonna happen and I get that but Lovie is just not a good head coach anymore. I understand what happened over the off-season and where we were as a franchise and I understand that it’s a bad look to fire another coach after one year.

But all that being said Lovie is not our coach of the future and if it were up to me I’d politely show him the door after our last game and do an actual coaching search this offseason now that our franchise isn’t as much of a dumpster fire as it has been.
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I hope they aren't the last in line to hire their HC for the 3rd yr in a row. Hire Kalfka early, pay him well and get on with the business of rebuilding the franchise. I actually hope they keep Lovie for another year.
 
Texansballer74 said:
Pep was here last season and I lot of people believed he was calling those games anyways. Remember he was the quarterbacks coach. Not only that but the offense they’re running is somewhat similar to what he ran at Stanford..

To me he is not throwing the side line passes with accuracy. He’s not going threw his progressions, his footwork is off on a lot of his throws. Last he is not stepping up in the pocket on a consistent basis. The last game I saw him doing all of that.
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I will agree with you, but last game he was doing the things you listed and doing them well.
 
thunderkyss said:
Until I see otherwise, I don't believe he has "it." He doesn't have that "clutch" gene. He's not the future. He's right now.
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If your viewpoint is he's not the future, then what's the point of him right now? Rebuild mode = play whomever gives you the best opportunity to achieve your goal. If Mills is that answer and again the position is he's not the future then that speaks volumes about this staff and/or the current QB room. That sounds Gross man
 
steelbtexan said:
I hope they aren't the last in line to hire their HC for the 3rd yr in a row. Hire Kalfka early, pay him well and get on with the business of rebuilding the franchise. I actually hope they keep Lovie for another year.
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Maybe the best move is to keep Lovie what do I know. I’m just legitimately worried he’s not doing a great job of developing our rookies and I’m not sure I want him to get another year at it. It would just be a great change of pace to have a new young coach that we can actually be excited about. Not the stopgap situations we’ve had the last 2 years
 
KoolAid Sipper said:
If your viewpoint is he's not the future, then what's the point of him right now? Rebuild mode = play whomever gives you the best opportunity to achieve your goal. If Mills is that answer and again the position is he's not the future then that speaks volumes about this staff and/or the current QB room. That sounds Gross man
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Unless he's helping you achieve your goal
 
Doc108 said:
Maybe the best move is to keep Lovie what do I know. I’m just legitimately worried he’s not doing a great job of developing our rookies and I’m not sure I want him to get another year at it. It would just be a great change of pace to have a new young coach that we can actually be excited about. Not the stopgap situations we’ve had the last 2 years
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I think you'll see the current staff at least 1 more year
 
JB said:
I think you'll see the current staff at least 1 more year
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I think you’re right just so painful to have to watch them somehow not make any progress from last years joke of a staff when they have even more talent and a more experienced QB. I know Lovie is also kind of a stopgap for a franchise in turmoil but he should at least be out coaching Culley!
 
Texansballer74 said:
Not in the 4th quarter when it counted. And he needs to that more. It’s shouldn’t have taken this long.
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Agreed he needs to do more in the 4th qtr? Last game he didn't play badly in the 4th qtr except for the int. But lets be honest, if he would've lead the team down the field say in 3 mins and put a TD on the board, the only chance the Texans would've had to win that game with 3 mins remaining would've been if they could've recovered the onside kick. because they were never going to stop Jacobs only needing a 1st down to run out the clock.

What's Mills started 15-16 games? how long do you think it should've taken, given how little he played in college?
 
Doc108 said:
Maybe the best move is to keep Lovie what do I know. I’m just legitimately worried he’s not doing a great job of developing our rookies and I’m not sure I want him to get another year at it. It would just be a great change of pace to have a new young coach that we can actually be excited about. Not the stopgap situations we’ve had the last 2 years
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The rookies are developing fine under Lovie. IMHO

What I dont want is for Lovie/Pep to get a new QB to train up for a yr under their system and then they get fired and the new QB has to learn a new system under a new HC. The new HCneeds to get to pick his QB and pair their careers together. With this said, I would fire Lovie tomorrow if I knew Caseio could hire Kalfka. I also like Dorsey and Dan Quinn a lot too.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
Pending what happens through the rest of the season, where I assume much more clarity on the immediate future of Mills will unfold, perhaps the best solution is to draft a Day 2 or late 1st round QB (perhaps a little raw, but with talent) and have those two compete for the position next year? Interesting scenarios to pay out which are development-dependent to close out the season.

Also, good point of Mills being a Alex Smith/Ryan Tann
steelbtexan said:
Don't misquote me, I can speak very well for myself. I've always said that PFF is part of the equation, not the whole equation. I just used to LOL at posters who think PFF is gospel but ignored the fact that Tunsil has consistently been one of PFF's top rated LT, in addition to being a multiple time pro bowler.

Do you think I'm a Mills defender? LOL, I just want to wait until 2024 to draft a QB if Mills doesn't improve. That's why I don't care if Mills is the QB next year or not. If he's the QB. In fact if he's as bad as you make him out to be, I really want him to be the QB even more because that means Caserio will have a top pick in the 2024 draft and their are 3 QB's I like better than any QB in the upcoming draft. Win-win
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LOL, I know what you're saying.
I just like to yank your chain sometimes.
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KoolAid Sipper said:
If your viewpoint is he's not the future, then what's the point of him right now? Rebuild mode = play whomever gives you the best opportunity to achieve your goal. If Mills is that answer and again the position is he's not the future then that speaks volumes about this staff and/or the current QB room. That sounds Gross man
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I see what you did there.

He’s not trash. He can play & help you win games. A healthy Alex Smith would be a commodity right now.

I think he’s our Tannehill. If I were the Titans I’d be looking for his replacement. But I’m not going to cut him. I didn’t see a 1st Round QB in the last 2 drafts, despite the hype. A guy like Malik I can’t pass on in the 3rd.

I hope he can replace my Tannehill. After spending a year with him I’ll decide if I’m going after a QB at the top of the 2023 draft
 
steelbtexan said:
The rookies are developing fine under Lovie. IMHO

What I dont want is for Lovie/Pep to get a new QB to train up for a yr under their system and then they get fired and the new QB has to learn a new system under a new HC. The new HCneeds to get to pick his QB and pair their careers together. With this said, I would fire Lovie tomorrow if I knew Caseio could hire Kalfka. I also like Dorsey and Dan Quinn a lot too.
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I'll disagree with your first statement. Pitre and Stingley are playing off of their abilities. I actually think Lovie is holding them back. I think Pitre will be ok, but this isn't the right defensive system for Stingley. Stingley is good enough to still be ok in it, but I think he'd be much better in another system. Roy Lopez looked better last year. If he was developing fine, he'd be better this year. Hinish has looked ok at times, but I think that's more of his reacting to plays and using his ability than it is from any development from Lovie. We haven't really seen Christian Harris, so we don't know what we have with him. Booker is only seen when the play breaks down, and he's chasing someone. Wallo looks decent when we get a chance to see him, but if he's developing fine, shouldn't he have been playing more? I can't give any credit for the young offensive guys to Lovie.

Pierce is what he is. He's got the fight to be successful in almost any system. Kenyon has looked good at times. Nico has looked good at times. Brevin, not so much. Mills has regressed. Cooks has even regressed, and he's not a young guy. I can't really say anything about any of the other WR's, because he never really see them. Akins looks like he has gained more by being away from the team, so much so that he is now our best TE.

I do agree with your second statement though. I do NOT want Lovie and Pep to be here when we bring in a new rookie QB. I do not trust them to do a good job, and that's sad. I was really looking forward to Pep coming in, and making the offense more dynamic. Instead, Pep has made it more tragic.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
I agree to some extent, but there's a heavy dose of context here.

First off, it's obvious that Pep in calling a conservative and measured offense that relies of short passing and measured ball movement. Is that because of Mills? Is it because he wants to limit mistakes because of Mills inexperience? Is it because we have below average WR1/2/3 talent? I would say possibly all of the above, although Mills had the best 20+ yards travelled passer rating in the entire NFL last year, so I have a hard time believing he doesn't trust Mills putting the ball downfield.

In the end, the team is not going to score a lot of points because it is not designed to. It's designed to be a 1990's style, ball control short passing offense with the occasional vertical strike. No motion or creativity whatsoever.

And even though I'm bullish on Mills arm talent and overall starter viability, I'm under no illusions he will even become Rodgers, Mahomes or Allen. My baseline prediction, if he's developed properly, is someone like Derek Carr, where he shares a similar build, arm strength, game fluidity and approach, although Carr is obviously better right now.

Some fans may think that's not enough, and that's fine. But if the baseline is getting the next Mahomes or Allen, well we could be waiting a long time for that and spinning though a multitude of QBs to find that golden nugget.
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The Chiefs didn’t try to take a round Mahomes and cram him into a square hole. Reid modified his playbook to Mahomes strengths by smoothing out the square edges so his round peg, Mahomes, would successfully fit in the NFL.

Far too many coaches demand that their QB learn and execute their playbook regardless of the fit. This mindset has burned up many good QB’s.
 
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TexansBull said:
Valid point that most are missing. They say they don’t like Pep and Lovie but want to immediately expose a new QB to them. Better to wait.

Bad coaching can screw up a good QB prospect.
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This is the best argument I've read so far to avoid taking a QB in 2023.

Build the lines on both sides of the ball first. While bad/mediocre coaching can still delay their development, it's nothing like a young QB that has to shuffle through HCs and OCs in the first few years of his career.

OptimisticTexan said:
The Chiefs didn’t try to take a round Mahomes and cram him into a square hole. Reid modified his playbook to Mahomes strengths by smoothing out the square edges so he would round peg, Mahomes, would successfully fit in the NFL.

Far too many coaches demand that their QB learn and execute their playbook regardless of the fit. This mindset has burned up many good QB’s.
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Yep. Unfortunately, there's not many coaches around with the wisdom of experience and knowledge of schemes like Reid.

And even if there was, I have serious doubts that these owners could recognize it without forcing whatever metrics they seem to employ in picking their head coaches.
 
OptimisticTexan said:
The Chiefs didn’t try to take a round Mahomes and cram him into a square hole. Reid modified his playbook to Mahomes strengths by smoothing out the square edges so he would round peg, Mahomes, would successfully fit in the NFL.

Far too many coaches demand that their QB learn and execute their playbook regardless of the fit. This mindset has burned up many good QB’s.
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It's always been hard for rookie QBs to come in and play well in the NFL, and it's largely because of that. I think the first guy to really do this, to take his playbook and then tailor it to his rookie QB who was thrown into the starting line-up when the starter went down was Ken Whisenhunt as the OC of the Steelers when Tommy Maddux went down. He had to hurry up and get Roethlisberger ready to play as a rookie. He threw out huge chunks of the playbook and kept the stuff that the kid could do. Roethlisberger went 13-1 as a starter in an E-P offense because Whisenhunt kept only the plays with the easy reads, lots of rollouts where he only had to read half the field.

Reid's another coach who can work that kind of magic.

We need coaches who embody what Bum Phillips said about Shula: He can beat your'n with his'n, or he can turn around and beat his'n with your'n.
 
Double Barrel said:
Yep. Unfortunately, there's not many coaches around with the wisdom of experience and knowledge of schemes like Reid.
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Has he done anything different since McNabb?

I think KC was more the perfect spot for Mahomes than Reid adjusting his offense.

it looked different with Alex Smith, but that’s more because Smith isn’t McNabb/Mahomes & while he is athletic he’s not athletic like those guys & his arm isn’t special like those guys.

But all the same concept’s & everything
 
thunderkyss said:
Has he done anything different since McNabb?

I think KC was more the perfect spot for Mahomes than Reid adjusting his offense.

it looked different with Alex Smith, but that’s more because Smith isn’t McNabb/Mahomes & while he is athletic he’s not athletic like those guys & his arm isn’t special like those guys.

But all the same concept’s & everything
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Alex Smith didn't have near the team speed
 
I haven’t posted here for a very long time, but from watching the Titans game so far, Mills seems like doesn’t give a sh!t. I can understand why…the interior of the line is not protecting him at all.

If he has “regressed” from last year, it’s because he had more time to throw last year. With all those 1st round draft picks up front, that baffles me. Maybe they are the ones who don’t a give a sh!t, I dunno. idonno:
 
Marcus said:
I haven’t posted here for a very long time, but from watching the Titans game so far, Mills seems like doesn’t give a sh!t. I can understand why…the interior of the line is not protecting him at all.

If he has “regressed” from last year, it’s because he had more time to throw last year. With all those 1st round draft picks up front, that baffles me. Maybe they are the ones who don’t a give a sh!t, I dunno. idonno:
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People around here have been saying that the OL has been decent and that the numbers bare that out. Perhaps they do. But today the OL was exposed in a very bad way - a way in which you can't really look away and explain it off. Just a dreadful performance and they were completely dominated in every facet. I counted at least 10 jail breaks right up the middle. Who knew A.J. McCann meant so much to this team lol.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
People around here have been saying that the OL has been decent and that the numbers bare that out. Perhaps they do. But today the OL was exposed in a very bad way - a way in which you can't really look away and explain it off. Just a dreadful performance and they were completely dominated in every facet. I counted at least 10 jail breaks right up the middle. Who knew A.J. McCann meant so much to this team lol.
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OL is always in flux until you get a legit starting 5 that can play as a unit. I still say we need a center...today was bad bad bad, but the Tits typically always have a physical D-line.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
People around here have been saying that the OL has been decent and that the numbers bare that out. Perhaps they do. But today the OL was exposed in a very bad way - a way in which you can't really look away and explain it off. Just a dreadful performance and they were completely dominated in every facet. I counted at least 10 jail breaks right up the middle. Who knew A.J. McCann meant so much to this team lol.
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Cann and the fact that McCray/Q both are not good. Put this with Green needing help with Simmons and you see what we saw today.
 
Gotta get the center position settled. The hallmark of any great line offense and defense is strength up the middle.. thats why they teach qb’s to climb up in the pocket when they get pressure on the edges. We havent been decent up the middle at the center position since Ben Jones. We haven’t been strong since Chris Myers. That’s been damn near 10 years ago.
 
I must say the title of this thread is very apt/accurate. :)

Respect is earned, and not given.

Mills hasn't earned anything.

There's been only wishful thinking from a number of Texans fans (blessed their heart for the positive thoughts).

I don't hate Mills; he's just not the guy.
 
Davis Mills, Houston Texans
Pick in 2021 draft: No. 67
Let's finish with Mills, who won the Texans' starting job by virtue of what he did at the end of 2021, when he posted a 98.6 passer rating and 50.9 QBR over a five-start stretch to end the season. He faced weak competition during that stretch, but he also played one of the league's toughest slates during his first six-game stint as a starter earlier that year.

During the offseason, the Texans resisted the urge to add a significant backup to Mills, preferring to let things fly with Kyle Allen. Depending on how you viewed Mills, this seemed to either be a smart move to build confidence in a second-year starter or a foolish decision to leave them bereft behind an inexperienced passer. Through the first half of 2022, it feels like the latter.

Mills hasn't looked anywhere near as exciting as he did during that breakout campaign. The problem has been a lack of consistent success. He has turned only 25.8% of his pass attempts into first downs in 2022. To put that in context, he ranks 33rd out of 34 qualifying passers. Everyone else is above 29%. The only guy below Mills is Mayfield, who is at 22.2%. It's extremely difficult to have a functional NFL offense when the quarterback is throwing for first downs only 25% of the time.

Offenses can make up for a lack of efficiency by hitting deep shots, and Mills has been better there. His 96.9 QBR on deep throws ranks ninth, and he's averaging 17.3 yards per deep attempt this season. He has thrown two picks on 24 dropbacks, which doesn't help matters, but the Texans could stand to try and scheme up more opportunities for him to try to hit big shots downfield.
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Mills doesn't have great receivers beyond Brandin Cooks, but he just hasn't been accurate. His 21% off-target rate is the worst in the league, and his 66% adjusted completion percentage ranks 28th out of 33 qualifiers. And while a quarterback such as Fields averages 7.5 yards per attempt, Mills is at 6.4 yards per throw, which ranks 29th. The Texans don't succeed often enough in their passing game and don't generate enough yardage on the plays where they do complete a pass.

On top of that, Mills creates his own problems. He has six interceptions and four fumbles in seven games. To be fair, his interception against the Titans on Sunday wasn't his fault, as Houston split out two tight ends and had them run into one another on what was supposed to be a slant to Brevin Jordan. Like many of these passers, Mills has been let down by drops, with a Cooks drop of a would-be touchdown against the Broncos coming to mind in what ended up as a 16-9 defeat.

Mills' sack rate is right at league average, but he needs to be better about avoiding pressure. One sack against the Titans saw him drift out of the pocket backward, creating easy rush lanes for edge rushers who had previously been blocked out of the play. This is a common habit for young quarterbacks, especially those without the mobility to then run away from those rushers.

The Texans don't really have any alternative, given that Allen wasn't any better during his time as the starter in Carolina. In terms of organizational investment, though, the Texans aren't locked into Mills in 2023 in the way that each of these other teams are with their starters. The Bears traded two first-round picks to acquire Fields.

The Texans used a third-rounder and have two first-round picks coming up in 2023, both of whom project to fall in the top five. General manager Nick Caserio drafted Mills, but the Texans have nothing significant tying them to Mills after this season. It would hardly be a surprise if they drafted a quarterback with one of those picks and pushed Mills to the bench.

If Mills wants to take advantage of what might be his only chance as an NFL starter, there's no time like the present to level up. He needs to grow more comfortable and confident within the pocket, make better decisions with the football and keep the Texans offense on schedule. One second-half hot streak earned Mills a starting job in 2022. He'll need another one to keep it for 2023.
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Looks like it's over for Mills... According to the LockedOn Texans Podcast (20:40): Caesario has a QB he doesn't want to lose out on with the 1st overall pick. He believes the team is in tank mode after Sunday...

 
ben.aires.smith said:
Looks like it's over for Mills... According to the LockedOn Texans Podcast (20:40): Caesario has a QB he doesn't want to lose out on with the 1st overall pick. He believes the team is in tank mode after Sunday...

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I might add, I personally still believe Mills has starting QB talent, whether that is similar to a Ryan Tannehill, Garropolo, Cousins, Carr or whoever. Hope he gets a chance somewhere else when his contract eventually runs out, because 100% he was set up to fail in this situation with lack of WR/TE weapons and Pep Hamilton as OC. I hope the next QB that comes in has a better situation or 2023 will be more of the same. I'm now checked out of this conversation as it seems Mills taking a backseat after 2022 is an inevitability.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
I might add, I personally still believe Mills has starting QB talent, whether that is similar to a Ryan Tannehill, Garropolo, Cousins, Carr or whoever. Hope he gets a chance somewhere else when his contract eventually runs out, because 100% he was set up to fail in this situation with lack of WR/TE weapons and Pep Hamilton as OC. I hope the next QB that comes in has a better situation or 2023 will be more of the same. I'm now checked out of this conversation as it seems Mills taking a backseat after 2022 is an inevitability.
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Eh, he's looking like a tier 2 backup to me. Behind the Case, Fitz and Tyrod types.
 
ben.aires.smith said:
Looks like it's over for Mills... According to the LockedOn Texans Podcast (20:40): Caesario has a QB he doesn't want to lose out on with the 1st overall pick. He believes the team is in tank mode after Sunday...

Click to expand...

He never says how he knows this. I don’t know who that guy is. Is he connected or is this just a hobbyist YouTube video?
 
TexansBull said:
He never says how he knows this. I don’t know who that guy is. Is he connected or is this just a hobbyist YouTube video?
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I listen to the podcast regularly. The other guy, Coty Davis, is frequently part of Texans media scrums. You never know if management is planting misdirection or not, but given the wa this offense was set up to fail, it wouldn't surprise me.

All I know is that in no way can this team continue with Pep Hamilton as OC past this season.
 
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zshawn10 said:
Are these guys's sources reliable?
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They are close to team officials and part of the media scrum, so yes. The bigger question is whether management is purposely embedding false narratives into their media source to mask their true intentions with other football clubs. This happens all the time before the draft... this would be some early seeding. I'm just going to assume it's true going into the draft... Whichever way you feel about Mills and whether he is really given a fair chance to succeed, I think it's highly likely the club will take a day 1 or early day 2 QB in the 2023 draft and let them compete for starting position in 2023. The big question is whether they go high lottery pick and make it clear who the next starter is.
 
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