It was an all too familiar gameday for the Houston Texans.
Coming off their best offensive performance to date against the Las Vegas Raiders and facing rookie quarterback Malik Willis in his first ever start, there was optimism, as there are in most games, that Houston could make the game competitive. Once again, that optimism was fleeting. Derrick Henry steamrolled the defense for 219 yards and 2 touchdowns. Willis only attempted 10 passes during the 17-10 victory.
In a game that might have been winnable with the “bend don’t break” performance of head coach Lovie Smith’s defense, another familiar narrative ultimately ensured Houston’s downfall. The offense was, once again, inconsistent and incompetent.
Quarterback Davis Mills completed 17 of 29 passes for 152 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Meanwhile, the offensive unit as a whole mustered only 161 total yards as rookie running back Dameon Pierce was shut down and offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton struggled to find any consistent winning mechanism against the Titans defense. Additionally, the offensive line turned in one of their worst performances of the year as Mills was sacked 3 times and hit many more.
The offensive line has decided to take the week off for Houston. They have been thoroughly dominated whether it's trying to create running lanes for Dameon Pierce or working to protect Davis Mills.
Zero answers today for the Titans defensive line #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) October 30, 2022
For the quarterback, it was an up and down kind of day that was almost a microcosm for how his sophomore campaign is playing out in 2022. The interception during the first quarter came on a play where tight end Brevin Jordan ran into another receiver and the timing of the entire concept was thrown off. When faced with obvious passing downs, Mills struggled to find matchups that were open and ultimately failed to move the chains as Houston went 2 for 14 on 3rd down.
The highs, as always, remained quite high for the Stanford product. Garbage time in the fourth quarter, when the Titans led 17-3, featured some familiar heroics from Mills and Brandin Cooks in an eerily familiar fashion to the end of the 2021 season. One play in particular featured Mills rolling out to his right and effortlessly flicking a 40-yard pass to Cooks. He would find Pierce on a checkdown the next play for Houston’s only offensive touchdown of the entire afternoon.
That was a really nice sequence from Davis Mills. Uses his legs to extend the play and then lofts a pretty ball 40 yards down the field to Brandin Cooks.
Mills highs remain really good, just about finding them in moments that matter #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) October 30, 2022
Ultimately, it was yet another showing of Mills failing to overcome the horrific infrastructure that Houston has surrounded him with in his second campaign. The absence of Nico Collins and some questionable play calling from Hamilton make it challenging not to question if the team is truly interested in putting their young quarterback in a situation to succeed. However, the flashes of talent thus far through 2 years of the Mills experience, or lack thereof, suggest that Houston is still likely to search for upgrades this off-season.
Honestly, I feel bad for Davis Mills.
This offense does nothing to help him on a weekly basis. When they can't run the ball they don't have the perimeter talent to win on obvious passing downs and there's nothing schematically that's encouraging.
Brutal situation #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) October 30, 2022
This Tuesday’s trade deadline could feature the departure of star wideout Brandin Cooks and a big change for the Houston offense. Mills will need to play significantly better on Thursday Night Football to have any hope of overcoming that loss partnered with the difficult matchup of the Philadelphia Eagles.
There’s still time for Mills to establish himself as Houston’s franchise signal caller before general manager Nick Caserio turns his attention to the 2023 NFL Draft. Things will have to be much better than these kinds of performances that were on display today against Tennessee.
