Texans Rally Around Davis Mills

Who needs Deshaun Watson, or hell, even Matt Schaub when you've got...Davis Mills? Though they've gone winless in his four appearances, the Texans are rallying around Mills, their third pick. Or at least they're saying so publicly.

“That guy’s a tough guy, man,” said Texans tight end Antony Auclair, per Yahoo.

Mills was tough enough on Sunday to become just the second rookie signal caller to throw for three or more touchdowns against Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The only other quarterback to do so was Russell Wilson nine seasons ago.

A former five-star recruit who played college ball at Stanford, Mills had his best pro game against New England last week, throwing for 312 yards and three scores in the 25-22 loss.

"He always stayed calm, and I think you don’t see that from a regular guy," added Auclair. "Coming off that bad loss (to Buffalo, a week prior) and then coming out firing in that first quarter. I think he played great.”

Over the course of three and a half games, Mills has performed as well as, and in some cases better than, the five notable first-round QBs selected in Mills' same draft class. He has thrown for 669 yards, five touchdowns and five picks.

“If you look around in the NFL with all those first-rounder quarterbacks that are starting right now, they don’t have that many wins,” said Auclair.

Auclair has a point. Only Patriots rookie Mac Jones has more than one win (2).

“I think Davis is doing a great job right now for us, and he’s only getting better," Auclair said. "I think the communication amongst the offense got better last week, and that’s part of it. And also, confidence-wise, Davis, I thought he was very confident in that game. He played well.”

At this point in his career, Mills recognizes that the best thing he can do is get the ball to his playmakers.

"I'm just going out there and trying to do my job and facilitate the ball to the players around me and let them make plays," said Mills.

Houston visits Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon in a tussle of AFC South bottom feeders who each have one win. The tough-guy QB will be in line for more Texan praise, should he find a way to lead his team to win number two.