On one play from Thursday night against the San Francisco 49ers, quarterback Davis Mills showed growth over where he began his NFL career.
Last season, rookie quarterback Davis Mills threw one of the roughest interceptions from any passer during the entire 2021 season.
It came during a Week 4 clash against the Buffalo Bills, in just his second NFL start. During a game where Mills and the Houston Texans came out on the wrong end of a 40-0 thrashing, Mills threw four interceptions on the road in the loss. He completed just 11 of 21 passes for 87 yards, posting an NFL passer rating of just 23.4, and a mesmerizing QBR of 0.6.
The play in question came early in the game, with the score knotted at zero. Houston faced a 3rd and 10 in Buffalo territory, at the 37-yard line. Meaning, there is a chance with a good play, the Texans will be in the red zone. Or, in perhaps a worst-case scenario, the field goal team is coming onto the field for the next play.
Instead, it would be their defense.
Houston dialed up a rather basic passing concept, with a pair of deeper curl routes on each side of the field, coupled with a sit route over the football. In some systems, this might be termed the Hank concept:
As you can see, Mills has to navigate a pressure look pre-snap. Buffalo does indeed bring pressure, but they also drop two defenders off the line of scrimmage in coverage: Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, and defensive end Mario Addison:
Now watch the play unfold, paying particular attention to Mills’ eyes:
His eyes never move off the sit route in the middle of the field. Edmunds reads him perfectly for the interception, but the only reason the linebacker is the one who snares the turnover is because Addison just misses on the catch. The defensive end, dropping into coverage as well, also jumps the route, thanks to how he reads the rookie’s eyes.
Fast-forward a few months. By the end of the season, there was a credible case to be made that it was Mills who stood out the most out of the rookie quarterback class. Whether you buy that argument or not, he showed enough to the Houston front office that the Texans passed on quarterbacks during the last draft cycle, giving Mills a legitimate chance to not only start this season, but be their long-term answer at the position.
That brings us to Thursday night.
Early in Houston’s final preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers, the offense faced another third-and-10 situation.
The Texans dialed up virtually the same exact concept. Now watch Mills’ eyes:
Mills, as he did in last season’s example, brings his eyes first to the sit route in the middle of the field. He even starts to throw that pattern. But then, he resets his eyes — and his feet — to the curl route on the outside. Why? He sees the robber safety start to jump that route. So he comes off the first read and flashes to his second, hitting Chris Conley on the curl route to move the chains.
Now, there are some differences between the two plays. Against Buffalo, Mills was trying to navigate a pre-snap pressure look with mugged defenders, and a blitz from the defense. Against San Francisco last night, he was dealing with a soft zone look, with just four rushers.
Still, Mills also dealt with pressure in last night’s example, as he takes a hit low that drew a flag. But more importantly, this is a sign that he is growing more comfortable in the pocket, even on concepts the Texans installed on the first day of minicamp. For him to reset his eyes, and his feet, to get to the curl route on the second example is a sign of mental growth from him.
Will this be a sign of further progress from Mills? Will he show enough to the Texans this season that enables them to pass on a quarterback next spring? That remains to be seen.
But on this snapshot, there is growth from him. Which is what the Texans, and their fans, are hoping for this season.
