Last week’s preseason contest against the Los Angeles Rams left the Houston Texans wanting to see a more consistent performance from Davis Mills and the first team offense before heading into the regular season. In a way, the San Francisco 49ers represented the perfect challenge and opportunity to do that.
San Francisco was one of the league’s best-coached defensive units last season and is notorious for their depth amongst the defensive line. If there was a time for the Texans offense to provide faith in what they could do, even despite absences from franchise left tackle Laremy Tunsil and star wide receiver Brandin Cooks, this was the time.
It wasn’t perfect but Mills and the offense ultimately delivered on Thursday.
Mills finished 6 of 10 with 58 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception. The opening drive was 11 plays and went for 85 yards before ending in a Dameon Pierce 1-yard touchdown. Pierce may have stolen the spotlight but the Texans’ offense is never in scoring position without Mills converting on third-and-10 early in the drive and then putting the ball in position for Nico Collins to draw the pass interference call in the end zone.
Don’t 😴 on Davis Mills. @Millsions
📺: #SFvsHOU on Prime Video
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/LTxiJ66vfR pic.twitter.com/HRX9uOdNxu— NFL (@NFL) August 26, 2022
The offense sputtered through the rest of the first half and Mills was intercepted midway through the second quarter. It was a poorly placed fade route to wide receiver Chris Moore that was bobbled by the defense before ultimately ending up in the hands of Tarvarius Moore. It was a pass that was eerily similar to last week’s touchdown to Nico Collins, this time simply without Collins’ “go up and get it” ability.
The offense rebounded at the start of the second half with a 6-play 77 yard drive that featured another Collins pass interference call and a touchdown caught by Nico that was called back by Chris Moore. Luckily for Houston, Moore made up for his mistake on the next play and brought in a 16-yard pass from Mills that was perfectly placed between the safety and the corner.
Houston is going to get a ton of cheap flags throwing fades to Nico Collins in the redzone. He's a nightmare matchup for smaller corners #WeAreTexans
— John Crumpler (@JohnHCrumpler) August 26, 2022
It was a contest for Mills that ultimately affirmed a lot of the things that Houston already knows. The team looks like they might struggle attacking vertically but that could improve as Mills and Collins get more live action in-game and Cooks returns to playing. The second year signal caller still looks the part in every way with his decision making and ball placement in the short to intermediate game.
Fans will get to see Mills with the full support of his starting offensive line and weaponry, in addition to enhanced play-calling from offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, on Sept. 11 against the Indianapolis Colts in the season opener.
John Crumpler has written for the Texans Wire since 2019 and is a PFWA member. Follow him on Twitter @JohnHCrumpler and catch him on The Backpedal Podcast.
