The Houston Texans deployed an uncommon strategy to move the football against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14.
Although the Texans lost 27-23 to Dallas at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Houston made the Cowboys sweat. The Texans led 23-20 and had a goal-to-go with 5:37 to go in the game until the Cowboys managed to get the ball back and mount a 98-yard, game-winning drive.
Contrast that with Week 8 with the Tennessee Titans. Houston’s anemic offense fell down as far as 17-3 with 11:08 to go. Houston didn’t score a touchdown until 17 seconds left in the game with rookie Dameon Pierce catching a 3-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Davis Mills.
The Texans generated 327 yards total offense throughout the flow of the game — not in garbage time with the time well in hand.
Why Houston was able to move the ball more effectively was due to the dual quarterback approach. Mills started the game, and was an effective 16-of-21 for 175 yards and an interception, but backup Jeff Driskel saw considerable snaps and led Houston with 4-6 passing for 38 yards and a touchdown while carrying seven times for 36 yards.
Mills told reporters Tuesday that he and Driskel spend time on the sideline processing the game together.
“There’s a lot of back-and-forth on the sideline, making sure we were seeing things the same, kind of bouncing ideas off each other,” said Mills. “Obviously, our play calls weren’t the exact same, so we’re not seeing the exact looks.”
According to Mills, the collaboration with Driskel is especially helpful as he is getting live reps against the same defense.
“From the mind of the quarterback, a lot of times you can only relate to what other quarterbacks are thinking,” Mills said. “When you have somebody to talk to who’s also getting live reps, live bullets flying at them in the game, it helps.”
The Texans may continue their split time at quarterback as they take on the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Central Time from NRG Stadium.
