Mills takes steps, but the Cowboys’ blitzes rattled him
ARLINGTON — Davis Mills sat at the podium for his first NFL postgame interview with a composure that matched the rookie quarterback’s performance in Houston’s 20-14 victory over the Cowboys Saturday night at AT&T Stadium: calm, poised, not too much flash.
The third-round pick out of Stanford has yet to throw a touchdown pass within a Texans offense that has been largely ineffective in two preseason games, but Mills improved from his up-and-down professional debut in Green Bay, which shows he’s steadily developing into a consistent passer who could one day start in Houston.
There was no forced throw intercepted near the end zone. No off-the-mark pass on the easier throws. Mills said his “biggest priority” was protecting the football and making good decisions after making such mistakes in Green Bay, and in six drives Mills was a stable 10-of-16 passing for 115 yards.
Mills delivered his best throws while on play-action and struggled on third downs.
On first-and-10 at the Texans 10, Mills hit Chris Moore for a 26-yard gain on a playaction strike out of a threetight end set — a promising pass in the third quarter with poor field position, alleviating an ineffective run game.
Mills mostly made swift decisions in the pocket and hit open receivers. He averaged 2.5 seconds from snap to release in his throws Saturday, according to a Chronicle reporter’s stopwatch, the same release time average as starter Tyrod Taylor, an 11-year NFL veteran.
The 22-year-old signalcaller said he has worked with longtime quarterbacks coach Pep Hamilton on always staying loaded in the pocket, prepared to hurl a pass in a split second “whenever something pops.”
Mills’ 25-yard midfield toss to Keke Coutee to start the fourth quarter looked like the quarterback was as comfortable and decisive as he’s been in seven-on-seven drills on his best days during training camp.
“I think I’ve shown what I can do, at least a little bit so far,” Mills said. “Obviously, there’s still a ton of room for improvement.”
The Texans were 0-for-10 on third-down opportunities, and in six chances Mills was sacked, penalized for intentional grounding, and completed just one of four passes on a 4-yard toss to Alex Erickson over the middle that set up a fourth-and-1 situation at the Dallas 36. Phillip Lindsay was subsequently stuffed for a loss with the game tied at 7 in the second quarter.
Converting third downs is blatantly crucial. The Texans have failed to convert a single third down just once in the franchise’s 314 regular-season and playoff games in 19 seasons: a 34-20 home loss to the Titans during a 2-14 season in 2005. Houston went 0-13 in its third-down tries in that game.
Coach David Culley said the offense was disrupted on third downs when the Cowboys blitzed more than the coaching staff expected. Mills said Dallas’ four-man front under new defensive coordinator Dan Quinn disguised its looks effectively. It was the first time the rookie quarterback was rattled by a confounding scheme, and he’ll have to improve on ingame adjustments and presnap communication with the offensive line to combat NFL defenses that will certainly attempt to produce more problems in his career.
“That gives us a ton of really good practice for moving forward going into the season,” Mills said. “Communicating with the line and protection, just making sure we are on top of everything. I think, like I said, seeing some different things different ways. I think Dallas mixed it up a little bit, but I think we can still just go out there and execute, do our jobs.”
The Texans will play their final preseason game against the Buccaneers on Saturday at NRG Stadium, and the reigning Super Bowl champions will present Mills his toughest challenge yet: a defense that ranked sixth in total yards allowed last season while producing two second-team All-Pro selections in linebackers Devin White and Lavonte David.
The exhibition will be Houston’s final chance to play Mills before a regular season in which Tyrod Taylor is expected to start. It’s uncertain yet just how much game action Mills will see in 2021, but general manager Nick Caserio will be closely monitoring his development to gauge whether there’s a need to pursue another quarterback early in next year’s draft.
“A lot of it is just growing in the offense,” Mills said of his first weeks with the Texans. “I’ve only been here for training camp so far and what we did in the spring. There’s still time for me to learn the system and learn the players around me. I feel I can still build a lot of chemistry with continual reps. But, I mean, so far, everyone’s grown together, and I think we have done well as a team moving forward.”