The Houston Texans looked like they finally had something with Davis Mills despite losing 38-20 to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 7.
The second-year signal caller went 28-of-41 for 302 yards, two touchdowns, an interception, and took just one sack. If Houston could start getting that 95.8 passer rating type performance out of Mills for the final 11 games, the Texans may be able to find a few more wins on the schedule.
Mills regressed against the Tennessee Titans in the Week 8 17-10 loss as he went 17-of-29 for 152 yards, a touchdown, an interception, and took three sacks.
Coach Lovie Smith knows that these are the growing pains that teams have to deal with when it comes to younger field generals.
“I think that’s what you go through with all young quarterbacks: inconsistency,” Smith told reporters Tuesday. “That’s hard once you cross that. Eventually though, what I’ve seen, the good one’s cross that plane. First, you need to be able to get some good games and then you start to try and stream more of those together. I think we’re on that path, can’t wait.”
What did affect Mills against the Titans was the loss of receiver Nico Collins, who may be out once more as the Texans host the 7-0 Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football.
Smith believes that there are other aspects that go into a quarterback playing consistently, and it is up to Houston to find those solutions.
Said Smith: “I’m talking about running game going, defense playing better, so many other things that we need to do as a football team before we can really say exactly what Davis has been able to do, how consistent he’s been from week-to-week. It was tough going against that last team that we played.”
The challenge will be even more amplified as the Titans are No. 10 in the Touchdown Wire NFL power rankings while the Eagles are No. 1. Houston is No. 32.
