HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610) - Davis Mills still has not won a game as a starter in the NFL, but might have played his best yet in Sunday's loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Mills completed a franchise record 14 straight passes to open the game. It was the most consecutive pass completions to start a game by a rookie quarterback since at least the 1991 season, according to the Texans.
But in the second half, Mills struggled to recognize and diagnose defenses pre-snap. The offense was unable to score any points, shut out in the second half for the third straight game at home.
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Mills engineered a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by a five-yard pass to fellow rookie tight end Brevin Jordan.
"A lot of it is just taking what the defense gives to you," Mills said after the game. "They were playing with a lot of depth in the defense and the check downs were there. You can’t go broke taking a profit, so I felt like we could move the ball down the field like that."
That was the only touchdown Houston scored Sunday.
Ka'imi Fairbairn kicked field goals from 21 yards and 61 yards in the second quarter.
The drive ending in Fairbairn's 21-yard field goal at one point landed the Texans on the Seattle half-yard line, when Brandin Cooks thought he'd made his way to the end zone.
But an illegal formation penalty pushed the Texans back a few yards. Mills threw incomplete to fellow rookie wide receiver Nico Collins on first and third downs and Houston settled for the field goal.
When asked after the game about Mills' command of the offense in just his seventh career start, center Justin Britt said the rookie has grown beyond that question.
"I'm just saying he's grown to that level of player where I feel like you can look at him and expect him to be that way," Britt said. "I think that speaks volumes to his character."
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks said he liked Mills' decision-making and that the team has to find ways to build off it.
"I think just being smart with the ball, not forcing things, taking those check downs when the big play is not there," Cooks said of Mills' command of the offense. "That's vet status right there when you can do it as a young guy and you show that to your team. I think he's grown tremendously in that aspect."
Mills is the Texans' starter for the remaining four games of the season, head coach David Culley said last Friday. The decision seems to effectively ended the Tyrod Taylor era in Houston.
The question now is how Mills factors into the Texans' quarterback plans going forward, still needing to trade Deshaun Watson and expecting to get a bevy of draft picks in return.
Whether they sign another veteran, or draft a quarterback to compete with Mills, these last four games are opportunities for him to grow and develop.