Houston Texans rookie quarterback Davis Mills had just four days to prepare for his first career start. He'll have extra prep time before his second.
The added days between games this week provide a chance for Texans coaches to add more to the QB's plate in Week 4 versus the Buffalo Bills.
"He's going to have a lot more put on him than we put on him last week," coach David Culley said Monday, via the Houston Chronicle. "I feel like he'll be able to handle it. We're just going to run our offense and let him handle it from there."
The Texans' offense was clearly curtailed in the TNF loss to the Carolina Panthers. Mills tossed for 168 yards on 19-of-28 passing with a TD. On the plus side, the young QB didn't turn the ball over.
It was a conscious effort not to overload the rookie on a short week.
"I don't think we went in thinking we just want to protect him," Culley said. "There are certain things that they were going to do regardless of what we called, they were going to do it. We just felt like that we wanted to make sure we gave him stuff that he knew. That there was never any doubt about what he needed to do on these particular plays."
To be competitive, Houston needs more from its offense than Mills showed last week. Before his injury, Tyrod Taylor had the Texans' offense humming for six quarters, so it's not a dearth of talent holding Houston back.
Mills showed last week that he could spin the pigskin. Now the third-round pick needs to do more if he's going to show he can be a potential long-term starting QB.
