ROOKIE MILLS SHOWS PROMISE IN DEBUT.
Rookie quarterback overcomes mistakes, delivers under pressure
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The first play of Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills’ professional career was a sack, a welcome-to-the-NFL blitz right up the middle by Packers linebacker Oren Burks, who brought down the third-round pick out of Stanford in a split second after coming through the line unblocked and free.
Already, Mills needed to rebound while an announced crowd of 72,348 shouted at him from their seats inside Lambeau Field, finally ready to shout at anyone after the pandemic forced the Packers to limit their attendance into the hundreds last year.
Already, Mills needed to overcome a setback, as he’d done in the week leading up to Houston’s first preseason game of the year, a 26-7 victory over the Packers on Saturday night. Mills had his best practices then. He’d overcome a rough first few weeks in which he made several mistakes, including throwing five interceptions in one red-zone drill. He’d looked poised and consistent, and head coach David Culley wanted to see that continue in Green Bay.
Mills did rebound in his professional debut.
Mostly.
Mills showed flashes of potential that gave hope that he might become a future starter for a franchise that, only a year ago, thought it had a star quarterback for at least the next decade.
That’s why the rookie’s progress matters. Tyrod Taylor, who signed a oneyear deal with the Texans, appears to be a temporary starter this season, and, barring a breakout year for Taylor in 2021, general manager Nick Caserio will be monitoring Mills’ development to see if he can be an eventual starter or if Caserio needs to pursue the position again in next year’s draft.
Mills has some mistakes to improve on. The offense went three-and-out on the first two of his seven drives. He completed just half his passes. He threw a costly interception near the goal line. Sometimes he made the tough throws look easy and the easy ones look hard.
Take the third-and-13 sideline toss Mills delivered to Chris Conley for a 15-yard gain in the second quarter. It was a difficult throw with a narrow window. Conley later
said that Mills actually passed the ball before the 6-3, 205-pound receiver broke toward the sideline. The ball was there right when it needed to be.
“That’s good trust,” Conley said. “I haven’t had as much time to work with Davis as I have Tyrod, but the fact that he was able to put that ball in a spot where only I could get to it, it was a very good throw.”
But also take the firstand-goal toss Mills delivered just a tad too high for 5-8 running back Scottie Phillips,
who couldn’t reel in the reception on a swing pass that would’ve certainly been a touchdown. The mistake was forgiven when Phillips rushed for a 5-yard score on the next play, but the red-zone issues continued.
Such as the next drive, when Mills couldn’t connect on two consecutive passes near the goal line, leading to a 25-yard field goal by Ka’imi Fairbairn instead of a touchdown. Or when Texans defensive end Jonathan Greenard forced a fumble that
was recovered at the Green Bay 17, and Mills threw a pass too wide for tight end Kahale Warring that was intercepted on the next play by Packers cornerback Kabion Ento.
The Texans struggled to produce touchdowns in the red zone Saturday, apart from the drives Mills was involved in, but the two mishaps highlighted an issue that Mills must correct before his regular-season debut arrives.
Still, Culley said he still noticed poise and resilience from the rookie.
“As I’ve said before, with him, something bad happens, he comes back and he’s got that next play mentality,” Culley said. “I think he held up very well from the start to the finish when he was in there. He did things we were trying to get him to do. When things weren’t right, the positive thing about him is he just comes back and those things don’t bother him.”
Mills delivered fine passes under pressure. He hit Anthony Miller in stride on a 13-yard strike to the Green Bay 19 while facing an imminent blitz during his fourth drive. He looked confident in the pocket in such situations and didn’t hold onto the football too long (averaging 2.3 seconds from snapto-release on his dropbacks, according to a Chronicle reporter’s stopwatch).
Culley, Buffalo’s quarterbacks coach from 2017-18, said he doesn’t have an expectation for just how quickly he wants his quarterbacks to release the football. He said “what we want them to do is just execute what’s being called.”
“I thought for the most part tonight all those quarterbacks did that tonight,” Culley said.