That fumble in the 3rd quarter that started their failure is not his fault. That is on the O Line and play calling. They should've just ran the ball.
Definitely some positives. He made some nice throws into traffic early on. That being said, he looked almost constitutionally incapable of making simple throws to the flats. His pocket poise was putrid in the second half. Uninspired play calling didn't help him at all. There's no trickery in the Texans playbook to keep teams off-balance/honest.
If Mills finished the season with a average of 4100 yds and 34 TDs and a QBR of 100 we would probably call that progress enough …and those numbers would likely indicate a top 10 QB . well what he did today was show that trend, However yes I am concerned with the finish. We need to see him rise above challenges and so far in game 1 that wasn’t accomplished…However if he plays like a top 10 QB, but doesn’t carry the team consistently is that enough to say Fock it…we still need to draft a QB?
Ps what @xcrunner51 said was spot on…it’s perplexing that the simple passes couldn’t be refined today…Mills could have had a completely amazing game by mastering the basics there
I agree. I think he is still suffering from a lack of playing/overthinking/slow processing. It's frustrating because he certainly has the tools. His pocket presence isn't great, but every now and then he makes spectacular throws. He also seems to be unable to hit a sidelines throw, and needs to be more consistent with his mechanics - or at least I'm assuming that's why he's having balls sail on him at a decent clip. My ultimate frustration with Mills is that I think he's good enough to convince some people that he's good enough. I just don't think he'll ever be a top 12 QB or so, which is likely what you need to be a perennial contender. I think it's possibly now or never with this team. At least in the next three years. You've got to find a quarterback you can fall in love with, and you've got to go get him. I worry that this franchise will just be happy with Mills though. As far as who that guy is, I think we should start heavily scouting Will Levis. I'm not sure if he's that guy or not, but I think he has tons of potential. He's even got a Bible verse tattooed on his arm. What I ultimately worry about, is the narrative that's already being passed around that we can continue to build the team with these picks and get a quarterback once the team is built. I disagree with that notion. You have six first round picks in the next three years. Even if you use two or three of them on a quarterback that is good, you're still building the team through the draft.
Definitely a legit concern. Right now he's still a developmental quarterback craning his neck upward to see average. It's about as bad a situation as can be imagined: almost no established talent on offense or defense, un-inspiring coach, untested front office, idiot owner. It's not Mills' fault he's thrust into a situation he's completely ill-equipped for. Any young QB would struggle here, but it's gonna be really rough watching someone you KNOW isn't up to the moment. He'll need to make some serious strides to just to hit average.
I probably have a slightly more optimistic outlook on that than you paint here, but I agree with your ultimate point. Ideally, we spend big in free agency, signing more defensive help, draft a quarterback that can possibly sit behind Mills for a year, and then bring in an actual legitimate coach. Then we trade Mills for a mid round pick, or keep him as a back up. All while letting the young guys develop. If we can get a decent coach, and put ourselves in a decent position with a quarterback, we have a decent future. As much as I am not a believer in him, should Lamar Jackson hit free agency, we're primed to make a run at him. You get Lamar, and you can really see a team coming together with our excess of picks in the near future.
Not trying to be too much of a debbie downer but 'decent future' doesn't cut it. Even when BOB was winning 4 division titles, everyone knew they were going to get rolled by the Patriots or Chiefs at some point. That was frustrating in its own way. The Stros and Rockets rebuilds have been hard to watch at times, but I always felt like it would pay off. The Texans have their Texans way and it's hard to get inspired. Back to Mills, I hope he can figure some out that basic **** quick.
The accuracy was a little off today but he didn’t make any major mistakes or really hurt the team today. Hopefully getting Howard and Tyler Johnson assimilated gives him a couple more weapons to work with and he starts looking better going forward. Let’s see…I’m still cautiously optimistic. Some really good qbs had or are having really rough days today. Carr, Burrow, Rodgers, Murray and Stafford…it happens.
Playing not to lose might seem like a good strategy in a coach's mind, but it undid the rhythm/confidence Mills had going up to that point of the sack fumble. He doesn't have that improvisation so the coaching staff has to do better than force feeding the rock to new comer Burkhead and telegraphing the 3rd down pass. I was not aware Tiki was doing games these days but he made a great point about the Texans keeping the Colts guessing but it stopped voluntarily.
Let's ignore that fumble then. The difference between Mills and those other good qbs that struggled today....we know that QBs are good.
I wouldn’t even say Mills struggled up until the last quarter, he actually looked pretty good overall for the first 3 quarters …if his biggest problem is mastering the basics then I feel better because that indicates a rhythm issue and can be fixed and it can be a teaching moment. I have a feeling Mills numbers by the end of the season will suggest a top 10 - 12 quarterback. He has that ability all you have to do is look at the numbers that he put up…However the eye test will tell us beyond the numbers he should’ve done better
So far today Mills is #4 in quarterback rating out of 20 quarterbacks who played today. Yeah, most of the league had quarterbacks who weren't better. Mills will learn and get better, but we also need to find a way to get him more targets, and could definitely do better if our running game was an actual threat.
he isn’t good at having a soft touch and leading receivers he over threw our guys so many times late in the fans
Doesn’t matter what the numbers say, the haters in here have eyes better than anyone. They say the numbers don’t matter.
That's pretty obvious. The fact that we have no all star wide receivers or tight ends or running backs or offensive lineman doesn't help either.
Yep, Was Mills perfect, nope, he needs to be better throwing the ball accurately outside the numbers and develop not only knowing what the coaches draw up, but where other guys are when option #1 is covered. The TE's were open quite a bit today and Mills forced the ball to Cooks. However if you told me before the game that Mills would throw for 240 yds and 2 TD's, with 0 ints and a 99 passer rating in his 9th start I would tell you he's the future at QB. If he puts up those numbers all year that will make him a to 12 QB with less than 2 years starting experience between both college and the NFL. He also had the best day of any QB in his draft class today and they tied (Should've beaten) the team universally was considered to be the class of the division and a playoff lock. This is with a bunch of rookies playing in their 1st games. The future is bright. The playcalling has to be less conservative. The 3rd and 1 run up the middle at the end of OT after burning a timeout is an example of what I'm talking about. How many people had the Texans winning this game? So while the tie was disappointing, it's much better than what I thought was going to happen.
