IN THE DOLDRUMS

Mills’ struggles, overall offensive ineptitude lead to Buffalo rout in dreary conditions

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The worst loss in Texans history also was one of the worst offensive performances in NFL history, the kind of game where any combination of box score statistics can be charted, computed and compared and still reach equally horrid conclusions that summarize Houston’s 40-0 loss to the Bills on Sunday.

Many of the numbers blame Davis Mills, who, in his second career NFL start, was sacked twice, threw four interceptions and posted the third-lowest quarterback rating in franchise history (23.4).

But Mills was the byproduct of overall offensive ineptitude. Nothing worked. The Texans’ offense made that certain by dooming their 12 offensive drives with constant setbacks and failures on first and second down.

Penalties, stuffed runs, poor throws and hiccups forced Houston into unfavorable third-down situations that, on average, required the offense to gain 11 yards to pick up a first down.

No NFL team has that many third-and-11 options in its playbook.

Mills said, “we only have so many plays we can run,” and, when there are that many thirdand-long situations, “there’s some things on defense they can do to make it really hard on us.”

Mills is now 0-2 as a starter. Tyrod Taylor remains on injured reserve with a hamstring injury, and he’s expected to at least miss Houston’s next game Sunday against the Patriots before he returns. But it wouldn’t have mattered which quarterback was in the game, Texans coach David Culley said.

“You could put Joe Montana out there today, and the way we played, you’re not going to have any success on offense,” Culley said.

Start with the penalties.

The Texans were flagged 10 times for a total loss of 100 yards, which nearly surpassed the offense’s 109 net total for the game, third-fewest in franchise history.

Four of the penalties were committed by Texans blockers on first down for a total of 40 lost yards. Left guard Tytus Howard, right guard Max Scharping and left tackle Laremy Tunsil each were flagged for holding. Each penalty resulted in a three-andout.

Tight end Pharaoh Brown also was penalized for grabbing a defender’s facemask in the second quarter, a 15-yard penalty that backed the Texans into a firstand-25 situation at their 25. The Bills led 13-0 at the time, prepared for a predictable passing situation and Bills safety Micah Hyde intercepted a Mills pass that was tipped by linebacker A.J. Klein at the line.

“We’re going to make sure we cut down on our penalties,” Culley said. “We need to take care of the football, and if we’d done that offensively, we’d have been in the football game. We didn’t do that. And when you don’t do that, you get your butt beat like you did today.”

A Bills defense that entered the weekend with the NFL’s No. 7 rush defense also limited a defunct Texans run game that gained just 31 yards with 15 attempts on first and second downs. Offensive coordinator Tim Kelly cycled through each of his favored personnel groupings, and no matter whether the Texans used three tight ends, two tight ends or one, there hardly were any significant running lanes.

Mark Ingram was Houston’s most effective option on early downs. He moved the chains for the first time with a 12-yard run on the team’s third offensive drive, a play in which all three tight ends (Jordan Akins, Pharaoh Brown and Antony Auclair) helped clear a hole in the middle of the defense. But Ingram was stuffed for no gain on the next play, eventually leading to a third-and-10 in which Mills forced a pass over the middle to Anthony Miller that was intercepted by Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.

A troubling pattern has emerged with Houston’s run game, which recorded below 100 yards in three straight losses against the Browns (82), Panthers (42) and Bills (48).

Then there were the turnovers and the blunders.

The Texans fumbled twice in Sunday’s rainy conditions, and the ball slipped from Mills’ grip on the first drive of the game, which the rookie recovered and created a third-and-28 and an eventual punt.

On Houston’s second-to-last drive, when the game already was out of reach, Akins had the ball stripped from him on a 5yard hitch that would’ve picked up a first down.

Culley, Mills and multiple players didn’t blame the poor weather conditions. The Bills also fumbled three times.

“Bottom line is we didn’t play good football,” Culley said.

Photos by Brett Coomer / Staff photographer Texans quarterback Davis Mills was sacked twice and threw four interceptions in his second career start as the Texans were shut out by the Bills on the road.

Texans running back David Johnson (31) was part of the rushing attack that managed just 48 yards against the Bills, the third straight time the run game has failed to accumulate 100 yards.