HOUSTON – Houston Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills tried to find consistency early on against the Los Angeles Rams. Better still, he was trying to find anything that could work.
However, nothing was done against the Rams front. The offensive line must be largely responsible for this.
Mills was five times for a loss of 36 yards in a. looted 38-22 defeat to the rams. He was Pressured 19 times, one of which resulted in an interception by Rams’ linebacker Ernest Jones in the second quarter.
The front of the Rams dominated the battle line. All Mills could do was maneuver out of pocket and hope for the best.
“They just have a really good front seven that we fought really hard against, but they have good players on this side of the ball,” said Mills. “They came after me a couple of times, but I found that our line was very well protected overall and processed what they brought.”
Texas coach David Culley said part of the offensive line problem was because Los Angeles knew the game design. Houston averaged 3.1 yards per carry and had two running backs tally less than 10 yards that day.
Los Angeles was ready for the pass. They attacked accordingly to drive themselves to victory.
“They knew we had to throw the ball,” said Culley. “We knew they would still come and flash us. And they did. Basically we were just in a situation where we were going faster, which actually helped us a bit, gave us a little variety.” ”
After the start of the second quarter, the line found a certain consistency. Mills was still under pressure but hasn’t been released in the last 25 minutes.
In the fourth quarter, Rams coach Sean McVay decided on the 38-0 result for starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and others. Mills would thrive against runners-up, throwing 220 of his 310 yards and that afternoon scores a pair of touchdowns.
“He’s making very good progress,” said Culley. “And I like where he is right now. And I like what he did with our offense at the end of the game, how he handled things. And he just keeps getting better.”
Texans are confident that Mills can turn the corner following the rumors of Deshaun Watson as the next franchise QB. The last 15 minutes – albeit against players from the second team – showed enough for hope to stay alive.
One thing Houston needs to fix in practice this week is attention to detail. Once again, early trip penalties for the offensive were expensive. Right tackle Charlie Heck was penalized for a false start, then left tackle Geron Christian was marked for hold to force a 2nd-and-23.
“It’s hard to play offensively when the defense knows what to do. We were in temporary situations, “said Mills.” So we just have to try and win those situations. I need to be better with the protection and make sure I get the ball out of my hands before these guys come to me. “
The Texans will race against the 1-7 Miami Dolphins this coming Sunday before starting their farewell week in week 10. Houston has yet to announce if veteran QB Tyrod Taylor (Hamstring) will start next weekend.
Comments are closed.