Never mind that Davis Mills is one of six players in contention for Pepsi Rookie of the Week. The Houston Texans third-round quarterback apparently was pedestrian in the 25-22 loss to the New England Patriots at NRG Stadium.
According to Michael Renner from Pro Football Focus, the former Stanford product was absent from the top 15 highest-graded rookies list for Week 5. There was a notable on the list at No. 12 in Patriots quarterback Mac Jones.
PFF overall grade: 73.5
Jones has shown the best accuracy of any rookie quarterback, completing 71.1% of his pass attempts so far. He’s shown impressive command of the Patriots’ offense and has been able to keep them on schedule consistently. While we still need to see more from him downfield, it’s a job well done so far for the rookie.
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Jones has done a good job through his first five games; no argument. However, how was he the better quarterback than Mills at NRG Stadium? Jones did have a better completion percentage than Mills: 76.7% to 72.4%. Mills had more yards (312 to 231), more touchdowns (three to one), and no turnovers compared to Jones’ interception. Mills was even working with a run game that produced 2.8 yards per carry compared to the Patriots’ 4.2 yards per carry. Mills was all the Texans offense had against New England.
Mills will have to continue playing at a high level, and for Houston to finally win, in order to get a fair shake from national analysts of any type.