The A-Team w/ Wexler & Clanton

The A-Team w/ Wexler & Clanton

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Texans’ Davis Mills growing into job as rookie starter

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Davis Mills will break the huddle Sunday and size up the Buffalo Bills’ formidable defense at the line of scrimmage, making pivotal decisions on the fly.

Unlike a week ago against the Carolina Panthers’ top-ranked defense, the Texans’ rookie quarterback will have the entire playbook at his disposal and a more aggressive approach to orchestrate.

The Texans wanted to make sure that Mills could protect the football and effectively run the offense during his first NFL start before cutting him loose.

An encouraging start from the third-round draft pick from Stanford as the replacement for injured starter Tyrod Taylor has convinced the coaching staff to give Mills more freedom even though the opponent is arguably just as challenging as the Panthers.

“I don’t think anything was really closed off in the first game, but whatever they are comfortable calling when I am in there, I’m ready to roll with it,” Mills said. “The big part of the game slowing down for a quarterback is having a big understanding of what you are running on offense and what the defense is doing and how you can attack that. It comes with more and more film study and reps in the offense being comfortable with all the guys around me.”

Mills didn’t look uncomfortable against the Panthers despite being sacked four times and hit nine times by the best pass rushing team in the NFL. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 168 yards, one touchdown pass and no interceptions for a 95.5 passer rating.

With that kind of performance comes more responsibility for Mills.

“He’s proven he can go out and handle the operation and make good decisions and protect the football,” Texans offensive coordinator Tim Kelly said. “Being able to go out there and continuing to find ways to score points is what we’re going to try to do.”

Compared to the quarterbacks drafted in the first round ahead of him, Mills is off to an extremely respectable start.

The rookie quarterbacks have combined for a 1-11 record. And Jacksonville Jaguars starter Trevor Lawrence, New York Jets signal caller Zach Wilson and New England Patriots quarterback and Cam Newton replacement Mac Jones have combined for a 1-9 record, 17 interceptions and only nine touchdown passes.

The highest rated rookie quarterback is Mills, who’s off to a solid start in one start and two games played with an 80.9 rating ahead of Jones’ 79.1, Lawrence’s 66.4, Wilson’s 51.6 and the Chicago Bears’ Justin Fields’ 39.9 mark.

“Every day he’s getting better,” wide receiver Brandin Cooks said. “From the moment he took his first snap in Cleveland until now, you see him growing just in his process, the way that he leads, and you just love to see it as a teammate of his.”

A former blue-chip recruit from Atlanta who chose Stanford over Alabama and Michigan, Mills was an honorable-mention All-Pac-12 selection who passed for 1,508 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions in five games last season. He set a single-game school record with a 504-yard performance against Washington State. As a sophomore, he passed for 1,960 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Although Mills only started 11 games at Stanford due to a knee injury, he showed enough to impress the Texans and be drafted 67th overall.

The Bills rank fourth in total defense, fourth against the pass, seventh in total defense and are headlined by linebackers Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano, defensive linemen Ed Oliver, Star Lotulelei and Jerry Hughes and cornerback Tre’Davious White.

“They have a lot of experienced dudes on their defense,” Mills said. “A lot of their guys have been in the system for a while and they do what they do at a high level. I think as an offense just attacking that, we just got to go by our rules, and they are one of the teams that want to force you into checkdowns. Let’s spread the ball around, get the ball to our playmakers in space and let them win the one-on-ones.”

Sounds like a good plan, but easier said than done.

The 2-1 Bills are coming off a 13-3 season and have been established as a 17-point favorite against the Texans.

To be competitive or win the game, the Texans will need a Herculean effort from their defense against gifted Bills quarterback Josh Allen and they need to provide Mills with some support through a better running game. The Texans rushed for only 42 yards against the Panthers.

“It will be big,” Mills said. “They’re not a huge pressure, load the box team. So, I think really starting the run game strong will always allow you to open up the pass game but emphasis on the run game’s going to be big this week.”

The Texans want to see Mills get into an early rhythm with his receivers and continue to maintain the poise he displayed against Carolina when he orchestrated a smooth no-huddle offense for a scoring drive capped by a touchdown pass to slot Anthony Miller.

“Get off to a fast start,” Texans coach David Culley said. “Be comfortable in what he’s doing, and stay the course when adversity happens. I feel like he’ll do that because he’s shown that.

“He needs to execute the offense, do what he’s asked to do and get us in the end zone. We’re going to run the offense and let him execute it and see what happens.”

Culley coached Allen as a rookie in 2018 when he went 5-6 as a starter. Culley sees some parallels between Allen and Mills’ early stages of their respective careers.

As a rookie, Allen passed for 2,074 yards, with a 52.8 completion percentage, 10 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 28 sacks and a 67.9 rating. The Bills finished 6-10.

 “Sometimes when you’ve got guys gifted like Josh is, for example, they feel like sometimes that they can make every throw,” Culley said. “They feel like they can make every play. Basically, at the quarterback position, when you’re young like that, all you want them to do is just do the job, do what you’re asked to do and not do any more, and protect the football. And that’s the most important thing with young quarterbacks, is protecting the football.”

The Texans don’t want to run a conservative offense, but they want to be realistic about Mills’ limited level of experience.

Mills is also facing a defense that hasn’t allowed 300 yards this season and has gone 9-0 against quarterbacks with 16 or fewer starts since the start of the 2019 season.

“I think every time a rookie quarterback is going to take the field, you’re going to see improvement from that standpoint,” Kelly said. “Especially considering the limited experience he had in college, coming out in training camp, and again, this wasn’t a typical offseason either. A lot of times he’s getting adjusted to that speed during the spring.

“With the certain circumstances, he was making those adjustments in August and he’s done a good job. Every time he’s taken the field, you’re seeing gradual improvements there in that area. Hopefully, we can go out there and take another step forward.”

Keep in mind how Mills’ rookie colleagues performed last Sunday.

 Fields had a disastrous start, completing 6 of 20 passes for 68 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions last season.

Jones completed 30 of 51 passes for 271 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Wilson completed 19 of 35 passes for 160 yards and two interceptions.

Traditionally, rookie quarterbacks struggle. Justin Herbert’s rookie debut last season with the Los Angeles Chargers was the exception, not the rule.

Peyton Manning was intercepted 11 times in his first four NFL starts.

Troy Aikman went 0-11 as a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys.

John Elway was awful as a rookie with the Denver Broncos.

There are far more Dwayne Haskins, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen, Jared Goff and Sam Darnold type of beginnings.

Lawrence and Wilson are tied for the NFL lead with seven interceptions.

Lawrence had an encouraging game Thursday night against the Cincinnati Bengals, completing 17 of 24 passes for 204 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

Still, the Jaguars are 0-4 and that doubles Lawrence's loss total in three seasons at Clemson (34-2) and match his career loss total considering he went 52-2 in high school growing up in Georgia.

Whether the early struggles derail promising careers remains undetermined.

Past failure doesn’t always prevent future success, but a competent offensive line and a sound game plan sure does help.

The notion that all rookie quarterbacks need to sit has been disproven over the years, but talent alone isn’t enough.

Experience matters, and Mills is gaining crucial knowledge while learning on the job.

“I mean with anything there is always room for growth,” Mills said. “I am still very young I would say in this offense. So, I am learning new stuff every day and I think the big thing of that is knowing what I am comfortable with, communicating with the coaches and being able to run that stuff on Sunday when it counts.”   

As for San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance, his team has been smart about his adjustment to the NFL.

He’s played only seven snaps as the backup to Jimmy Garoppolo.

Kyle Shanahan is bringing along Lance slowly, which appears to be a very wise move.

The Texans don’t have that luxury with Taylor sidelined with a hamstring injury, so they’re doing the best they can with Mills.

“I think Davis is going to be a pretty good player in this league,” left guard Tytus Howard said. “Everything didn’t go his way. It didn’t go our way as an offense, but I think he battled. He showed that he can play in this league and can lead this offense, lead this team and I believe in him.”

Aaron Wilson has covered the NFL for 20 years and has previously written for The Houston Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun. He’s on Twitter: @AaronWilson_NFL and Instagram: @aaronwilson7128

Carolina Panthers v Houston Texans

Photo: Getty Images


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