HOUSTON — During the Houston Texans’ 40-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills, Davis Mills registered the worst start for a quarterback in franchise history. He finished the game with a 0.8 QBR while completing 52.4% of his passes for 87 total yards and three sacks.
While there have been no talks about the possibility of signing a veteran quarterback and Tyrod Taylor still on injured reserve, Mills will remain the Texans’ starter under center during their Week 5 match against the 1-3 New England Patriots at NRG Stadium on Sunday.
After watching the appalling performance from his starting quarterback from the sidelines of Highmark Stadium, coach David Culley would like to see Mills enhance his ball security moving forward.
“Understand that your job is to protect the ball and when you go back to pass, an incompletion is ok if the guy is not there — you don’t have to make a play,” Culley said when speaking about the one-on-one conversation he had with Mills earlier in the week.
“That’s from being inexperienced and being young. But at this point right now moving forward as our quarterback, that’s something that he has to get better at quicker and faster.”
Mills’ inability to take care of the ball has been his most prominent flaw since training camp. He threw four interceptions in the loss against the Bills and has now accounted for five of the Texans’ six turnovers this season.
ESPN Stats projects Mills will throw 20 interceptions by the end of the 2021 season.
In addition to taking care of the ball, Culley said he wants to see Mills enhance on making quicker and faster decisions in the pocket.
“As our quarterback he needs to understand this is how the job needs to be done for us to be what we need to be,” Culley said. “We’ve had one on ones every day this week about those kinds of things.”
“Basically to assure him that we still got his back. We are going to move forward with him, but he’s got to play better and we are going to play better with him.”