Author: /u/bingmyname

Sorry about the spam but I need to get one last thing off my chest before the weekend.

I think Mills is closer than what he looks but he needs to take 3 steps this year.

1. Get rid of anxiety throws.

He can really do this by doing 2 things- multitask and transition. What I mean is he needs to be able to simultaneously keep his eyes down field and go through progressions and also maneuver and have a feel for the pocket. Then he needs to transition his feet for the throw and get them properly planted or use his proper throw on the run mechanics (this is a great point someone made in another comment on reddit or twitter).

1. Get on the same page with everyone.

His OL and he need to know how to create space and to move into that space in the pocket. They have to know where he’s going to be when he maneuvers and they have to feel him just as much as he has to feel them. He needs to be on the same page with his pass catchers, otherwise his anticipation is useless and it’ll look like he’s just being inaccurate.

1. The deep and intermediate game.

I think he can already do this to some degree but it’ll be more consistent and aggressive when he does the other steps. They’ll have way more opportunities open up and Mills will have to learn them.

He does all of this then he will set this team up for a potentially LETHAL offense next year when we get more weapons.

One of the things that would help Pep and by extension help Mills, is to have a real RB2 that can be effective in both the pass and run games. I still believe DP isn’t getting many touches in the 3rd qtr and later because he’s already gassed out and I’ll believe otherwise when he plays the full game. Unfortunately this makes things predictable and defenses can start to play the pass instead of respecting the run if Rex is out there. With that being said, mixing in a true RB2 helps extend Pierce for not only the game but also the rest of the season while keeping the defense on their toes since they’ll have to respect the run game through the 4th quarter.

With that being said, we have 4 6th round picks, there’s guys on practice squads and we’ve worked guys out. Do y’all have any RBs you think we should consider? I honestly don’t know other than Perine who visited. I know we’re not expecting to win now but it’s crucial for Mills’ development and Pierce’s health that we get a real RB.

Tldr: we need a real RB2 to keep the run game a threat through 4 qtrs to help Pep, Mills and Pierce. Any ideas who would be good in run and passing downs?

PS Mills and DP need to do a better job at selling the play action! No one’s buying it and their piss poor attempt costed Nico Collins a potential TD vs the Broncos!

First of all, let me say that the Texans/Mills actually recover from missed opportunities very well. What I mean is that they’ll have a negative or neutral play on an early down and then Pierce will gash the defense for a chunk or Mills will make a completion to cut the down and distance. However it’s clearly not consistent or good enough yet. Here’s some things I’ve noticed (ps I’m kind of doing this by memory so i may be meshing things):

Drive 1: DP didn’t turn around for the screen in time so Mills threw it in the dirt. They recovered with a nice DP run to get to 3rd and short. But then they left an unblocked edge defender (by play design, make of that what you will) and he was in the backfield before DP got the ball. DP wanted to make a move but slipped instead.

Drive 2: Whoever tells you the OL played fine LIED. They absolutely did not at CRUCIAL MOMENTS. On one play in the red zone, Quessenberry got tossed like a rag doll, allowing instant pressure. On a 3rd and 5, Green got put in the mixer by a spin move and allowed pressure in Mills space really quickly. However I don’t think the blame stops there, as Mills didn’t even plant his feet which led to a throw that was out of Burkheads range. If it’s a more talented receiving back then maybe that’s a TD (nice play call and nice read but bad execution imo) but Mills needs to either plant his feet and make a more accurate throw or roll outside the pocket where Tunsil was giving excellent protection and then make a throw. Either way if Mills wants to be the guy he has to learn to do one of the 2. Very difficult but it’s the NFL and there’s always a guy that can do it.

And backing up a bit, there are 2 things also worth noting. 1. Mills and Brown being out of sync on a play that would have been a first down. I don’t know if it was just an overthrow or not being on the same page but I’m inclined to believe this one was of the latter.

1. Mills is paranoid af. He clearly doesn’t trust his protection yet. There’s 2 plays in thinking of, one where DP picked up a blitzer but Mills threw the ball way before he had to anyways and another where again the play design left an edge blocker unblocked (it was a play action) so there was a free rusher until Green picked him up. However Mills still panicked and threw the ball.

It’s not all bad news though as I said, they were able to recover from a lot of those types of plays but they happen TOO OFTEN for reliability. The OL needs to be more consistent and Mills can’t be too paranoid (although to be fair when he has trusted them, they still let him get sacked/hit so again not entirely his fault).

Now to address this idea that Mills is regressing to a one read QB. NOT TRUE. First of all I saw 2 types of scenarios with the way Mills reads.

1. This is the case where I think people are attributing him to only reading 1 guy. Mills identifies an option, many times his first read, he knows that they are going to be running to an open space later in that route. However, it’s not always a route he can throw to immediately with anticipation, sometimes he has to hold the ball as he waits for his guy to get open or hit a point in the route where Mills can anticipate. However this can be a problem if the OL isn’t holding up because Mills does not yet have the pocket presence to accommodate. Now you can see where problems are compounding. Let’s take the Cooks drop for an example. Mills knew cooks was running a route that would be open but he can’t just throw it immediately. He had to wait a bit before throwing it. It’s his first read and the right read. However there was a WR completely wide open on the other side of the play. Not his first read though so not really Mills’ fault. But people will still call him a 1 read QB because the play didn’t work. Or sometimes Mills is just wrong about his WR getting open and he forces it. There’s a few of those to be fair and unbiased but they’re not all to Cooks. I saw him try to force one to Collins instead of a wide open Moore.

2. He actually does go through his full progressions just fine and people are just ignoring it for a narrative. I’m literally watching the guys head and eyes progress through his reads. Stop telling me he’s not doing it. Maybe a bit faster, sure, but he’s doing it.

So plenty of blame to go around here and I don’t agree that pass pro was just fine but I do agree that Mills needs to still make the play because it’s still enough for him to play better than he is.

PS he can make sideline throws, as per his first completion of the game. He just needs to stop rushing it.

Summary- DP had some slip ups drive 1, the OL constantly let Mills down to the point where he’s paranoid and rushes throws, Mills still needs to play better despite the OL play because that’s what NFL starting QBs do. And on a positive note, the Texans offense does a good job at recovering yardage from failed plays in early downs- they just need to reduce the amount of failed attempts.

First off they all just need to get on the same page as a whole on offense. It’s a new offense and the chem is lacking so we’ll have to give them some benefit of the doubt but by the bye week, it needs to be settled.

1. Mills – there’s quite a bit he needs to do but I think one of the most impactful things he can do is to get off his reads a bit faster. I think he’s going through his progressions a bit too slowly (some ppl say not at all which is sometimes true). I think this is causing a snowball effect in that his internal clock just isn’t good yet. First he’s late on his read, then he tries to make the throw in time and it causes him to rush mechanics which leads to a bad throw or he takes a hit and that causes him to lose his sense of pocket time altogether. I think this is step 1 for Mills.

2. RB- Pierce just has to get better conditioning so he can run more. Can’t blame him as he’s a rookie coming in with limited snaps, game 1 they refused to give him the ball and game 2 he’s running through people at mile high. We should have a real RB2 to compliment DP even if he’s only getting 3-4 a carry. Just need a guy with speed and vision.

3. OL- they need time to gel and to stay healthy so they can stop changing members on the line. But most of all they need to be more consistent snap to snap and play with their heads in the game. Way too many blown blocks and even when they pick up blitzes they still do a bad job of blocking it.

4. Wr/TE- get open and catch the ball. I understand Mills may not always throw the ball in the best place but if it hits you in the hands, catch it. Especially if you’re open. Plus they REALLYA need to get on the same page with Mills. Not being on the same page is going to kill Mills’ anticipation.

Bonus-

Pep Hamilton. He’s getting a lot of flack for this offense but I think most of it is bad execution. However I don’t think he deserves to go without blame. I think he should do a few things:

1. I understand we don’t have a RB2 and that one’s on Caserio but we need to run the ball more. And I mean mix them in, not just run run pass. This makes the defense stay disciplined in their gaps and respect the play action, allowing Mills to fix his internal clock.

2. Fix the play action. Mills and Pierce are not selling it AT ALL. It doesn’t even look like a real playaction half the time. Again I think part of that’s on Mills being too rushed. But help him by running the ball more and selling the playaction better.

3. Back off Mills a bit. It just seems like he’s being told too much at once and he’s trying to do too much and stepping over his own feet literally like a baby giraffe does when learning to walk. Mills needs to take it bit by bit and Pep should scheme with that in mind week to week.

https://anchor.fm/bythehorns/episodes/By-The-Horns-Podcast-Ep–1—The-Great-Mills-Debate-e1o072m

Looking to get it to more platforms later but we’ll see. I like to rant about the texans so I figured I’ll put it out there. Thanks for any listeners. Also feel free to respond to what I said and I’ll probably say something about it at some point.

From listening to Caserio talk in all his interviews and how he’s acted, I think I have an insight on how he will evaluate Mills.

I think Nick is looking for a few simple things- 1. Be intelligent and absorb/ process the information well. 2. Be a hard worker/ consistently demonstrate good work ethic. 3. Respect your teammates and the staff and garner respect from them as well, ie be a good leader. 4. Be consistent. 5. Take care of the ball. There is no magic number of TDs or even interceptions that would make Nick’s decision. But rather the context of those events. (How did he process the information given and does he understand and improve or does he make the same mistakes). 6. Don’t keep making the same mistakes. 7. Progress throughout the season. Keep getting better at the things he’s coached on.

The thing is, this could mean Mills looks completely mediocre to the fans. The fans won’t be able to see this part of the evaluation since it happens behind closed doors but for Nick, who is a real process before results guy, he will be able to keep an eye on all of this and that would inform his decision. Obviously if Mills does all these things and still looks bad, it could just mean there’s not enough talent or he’s not grasping the game and it’s time to move on. However, I do think that if Mills does all these things and even just looks mediocre, Caserio will give him another chance. This is where you can see some fans getting upset because 1. They don’t like the idea of process before results and/or 2. He’d be passing on a group of talented guys for someone viewed by fans as “mediocre”.

A few people saw the struggles against the Rams early on and are already trashing Mills. Tbh there’s some valid excuses like the fact half the 1s on offense are out and the fact that he really only had 1 drive where he got to throw the ball outside of 3rd down BUT there’s also some genuine concerns with accuracy on the first few deep shots, even some of the underneath stuff was missed. Also the fact that Kyle looks more comfortable really just means this is a nice reality check about where Mills still is. He’s still very new and early on and a lot of the good pocket passers struggle with the same stuff. Just need some time to get comfortable in game and to be more consistent. He’s still developing and will continue to get better throughout the year. And he needs to show that progression. But let’s be fair here. At least he’s shown some nice stuff. That throw to Dorsett was really nice.

I was able to see the first drive back and I have some thoughts:

1. The very first play the LB just made a great play. He saw the run coming and shot the gap Mack was supposed to run through. No one really missed their block although I guess if anyone did it would be Jordan. LB shot the gap and Mack had .2 seconds to make a decision. I guess the only thing you can say is maybe be less predictable and also maybe Mills could speed up the drop a bit more to give Mack a little more time.

2. The second play Brevin missed his block. Had he made the block we might have gotten a few yards on that play. Brevin just has to be faster at making contact. I mean Adebo is 6’1 198 and Jordan is 6’3 245 so idk why he was so hesitant to make the block. Thats an opportunity to be a straight up BULLY.

3. The last play was just a quick out. No one even passed the sticks and Mills made the right read. Just didn’t have the means to make a play there and we were way behind schedule with it being 3rd and long. Also Heck got BEAT so there wasn’t even much time even if it were a deeper developing play.

Overall all these things are fixable and it’s preseason so no need to hit panic. But it won’t get much easier next week going from the Saints to the freaking Rams lol. Just gotta be quicker and more decisive imo. IDK about the second drive though I couldn’t find it.