A letdown in Cleveland
Mills, not me-first Watson, deserves shot to lead team as Taylor heals
Texans head coach David Culley shows his frustration after Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield scored on a 5-yard run in Houston’s 31-21 loss on Sunday. Coverage starts on
CLEVELAND — Four more quarters of heart.
Eight total quarters devoted to passionate, hard-fought football that has you watching, studying and praising a completely remade team that was supposed to be absolutely horrible.
Two games that made you proud of David Culley’s new Texans, not embarrassed to be publicly associated with them.
Which should make the next part easy and smooth for a franchise that far too often gets the simple things wrong.
The Texans must follow their tough 31-21 defeat to Baker Mayfield’s Browns inside a barking FirstEnergy Stadium on Sunday by moving forward again.
Give the ball back to rookie Davis Mills for the Texans’ only scheduled national prime-time game in 2021.
Short rest. “Thursday Night Football.” An increasingly banged-up roster that entered Week 1 lacking real depth. Who cares?
The third-round selection from Stanford has to prove
he can start in the NFL at some point. Leading a proud 1-1 squad against a beatable Carolina team on Kirby Drive is a perfect early test for Nick Caserio’s first draft pick as general manager.
Then the Texans should give the team and offense back to 11-year veteran Tyrod Taylor once his hamstring heals — as long as Mills doesn’t become the NFL’s next version of Justin Herbert.
And continue to keep the super-talented, threetime Pro Bowl quarterback who has constantly quit on the Texans as far away from the playing field as possible, no matter how desperate the rebuilding Texans get at quarterback for the next 15 games.
“We’ll have to see,” Culley said postgame when asked if Deshaun Watson could play against the Panthers.
No. No. No.
No.
Culley started his NFL head coaching career with a blowout victory inside NRG Stadium. Sunday, the Texans followed their new coach’s personal spirit, leading 14-7 midway through the second quarter, then refusing to relent after losing Taylor to a frustrating injury and falling behind 24-14 to a Cleveland team that is now 1-1 and supposed to return to the playoffs again.
“That’s what this team is all about,” Culley said. “This team has been that way from training camp.”
So why did Culley miss so badly answering another Watson question, especially after praising Mills’ unexpected NFL debut in back-to-back answers?
“Very confident with (Mills). Our players, when he went in there, I’m talking about they didn’t bat an eye. On our sideline, it was as if Tyrod was in there,” said Culley, after Mills finished 8 of 18 for 102 yards, a touchdown, an interception and a 58.1 rating.
I’m not in any way saying Mills is the new and immediate answer for these Texans. He wasn’t ready for his first pro drive. He threw a bad pick and could have given away a couple more passes. In an ideal world, trying out Mills in Week 8 or 12 would make more sense for the Texans this season and their post-2021 future.
But the Texans have struggled to answer the Watson question ever since he quit on them in January — when the increasingly self-centered QB was adamant he was too good for the franchise and should have had a say in Caserio’s hire — and they continue to randomly miss in September.
He doesn’t practice with the team.
He doesn’t stand with his teammates during games, despite being healthy and on the 53-man roster.
He’s “winning” by being paid $10.5 million this season to do nothing for the Texans, all while facing multiple ongoing investigations and 22 civil lawsuits.
The Texans believe in and play hard for Taylor, who has played six quarters of impressive football and started 31 of 44 for 416 yards, three TDs, no picks, a 122.9 rating and 55 rushing yards.
The Texans were intrigued by Mills on Sunday and saw a 22-year-old who could be followed as the third quarter became the fourth and the Texans kept hanging with the Browns.
Watson should be traded as soon as Caserio’s asking price is met.
Watson should never play for the Texans again — and has relied on his handlers to privately convey that message to a franchise that promised him $156 million to hopefully be a Texan for life.
Simple and easy: The Texans are playing with too much heart and passion right now to even think about asking the me-first Watson to possibly bail them out.
Culley normally sticks to the organizational script and relies on polite shutdown answers when Watson’s name is brought up.
Everything is day-today. But there’s nothing new to say about Watson, so nothing, really, is said.
“We’ll have to see” sounds open-ended. Optimistic. It teases the potential of D4 saving the Texans when T5 is the QB leading a roster loaded with veterans on one-year deals and Mills is the team’s only QB hope for the future.
Could Watson play on TNF against the Panthers inside the Texans’ stadium?
No. We’re trying to win as a team, and he quit on our team.
No. We didn’t need him against Jacksonville and were up against Cleveland on the road without him.
No. We talk about sacrifice and commitment and the process all the time, and he’s opposed all of that.
That’s better coachspeak than “we’ll have to see.”
If Culley’s Texans keep playing this hard this year, they can lose and lose and lose and still make new fans.
If the Texans give Watson his old job back — or place the quitter one injury away from being their quarterback again — it will be time to stop believing in the heart of Culley’s 2021 Texans.