Texans QB Davis Mills isn’t feeling extra pressure about his job

Mills said he just needs to keep working hard and execute.

Houston Texans quarterback Davis Mills spoke with the media Wednesday and addressed a myriad of questions regarding both his play and his mental state.

Mills expressed he is not feeling any added pressure about his long term job security:

“There’s pressures in being the starting quarterback. I’m not looking that far ahead of it. I’m taking this really one practice at a time, one week at a time right now. I’m just going out there, putting my best foot forward each day for my teammates and trying to win games.”

Earlier this week, Texans head coach Lovie Smith said that Mills and the offense were struggling with making the correct decisions on RPOs. Mills addressed those concerns and the comparisons of last year’s offense to this year’s scheme:

“We’ve had some similar schemes. The way it popped up last week, we had a slot pressure on one, which by scheme, I’m supposed to throw it out to the slot, and he ended up making a play and batting it down. Then we had another one where I had free access on a run play; if we get an off-corner into the boundary, I can throw a little 5-yard out and try and get free yards. They ended up jumping it, so I just had to throw it away. There’s plays like that where you think, ‘okay, third-and-1, third-and-2, can the running back beat him to the line of scrimmage and try and fall forward for a yard? When they are bringing pressure, does a quarterback need to throw it off the edge to protect the play itself because we’re not blocking that guy?’ It’s stuff like that where we just had to think about. Coaches are working on; we’re working on it as an offense to just be efficient on third-and-short, third-and-manageable. We just want to keep drives alive and figure out what plays we want to call to keep the sticks moving.”

Mills explained that what they are doing well as an offense plays a larger part than what the defense is doing to try to confuse him:

“A lot of it is just kind of having a good feel of the game, how it’s moving, how things are hitting as an offense. If you’re busting off big runs, you want to give the ball to your running back rather than trying to make a play on the edge with the receiver, doing something with my own legs. It’s kind of just the flow of the game, and you’ll feel it as you’re out there.”

Mills knows he has to get the ball more to his top two receivers:

“Anytime Brandin (Cooks) and Nico (Collins) can get the ball, we know it’s going to be a big play. We’ve got to continue to find ways to move them around, get them specific matchups and different looks versus the defenses where they’ll be open, and they can win on their routes. We’re excited about that. We have some good stuff going in this week where we’re going to keep attacking, keep trying to emphasize getting those guys the ball so they can make plays for us.” 

Mills described that what he sees on film is essentially the same as what he sees in real-time:

“I think it’s synced up pretty well for the most part. I think as an offense; now we’re running it. They don’t put a ton on the quarterback, so I don’t need to go out there and confuse myself and try to see too much. I need to see what I need to see. That’s pretty much it. Pep (Hamilton) always says, ‘see a little, see a lot. If you see a lot, you don’t see anything at all. Going out there and being efficient with what I need to look at. Obviously, you can see a lot more when you go back and watch the film after the game, but I think we’re in a good spot right now. We’ve just got to keep progressing the way it is.”

The quarterback also said his thumb is good to go:

“Early on last week, it was still a little bruised and swollen, but it’s completely fine now.”