In the wake of Davis Mills’ not-so-great performance in Sunday’s historic Houston Texans loss, head coach David Culley said Monday it still may be a few more weeks before starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor can return to the lineup.
The Texans are coming off the franchise’s worst loss ever, a 40-0 drubbing in Buffalo on Sunday. Mills, a rookie quarterback filling in for the injured Taylor in rainy weather, completed 11 of his 21 passes for 87 yards with no touchdowns, four interceptions, and a fumble that he recovered. He also had one rush attempt for two yards in his second career NFL start.
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Of course, there were other factors - the rain and the Texans’ 10 penalties costing the team 100 yards. Culley blamed himself after the game for not having the team ready to play. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see there were struggles at the quarterback position.
“It wasn’t a good day,” Culley said. “(Mills) knew it wasn’t a good day. He also understands that, at quarterback, the first thing you’ve got to be able to do is you’ve got to be able to protect the football. He didn’t do that yesterday. And basically, he’s just got to get better there and understand that that’s part of the growing pains, but unfortunately, to win a football game, you’ve got to keep from losing. And that’s losing football when you don’t protect the football, and we’ve got to have that out of that position.”
Culley said Monday that the Texans have not yet discussed the possibility of signing another quarterback. As for Taylor?
“I think when we put him on injured reserve, obviously there’s a certain amount of time he’s got to stay there before he’s back, but we’re hopeful to get him back in the next couple of weeks,” Culley said.
The Texans placed Taylor on injured reserve with a hamstring injury on Sept. 21. With that move, he’s required to miss at least three games. Thus far, he’s missed two.
In the game-and-a-half that Taylor played this year with the Texans, he has looked good, completing 31-44 passes for 416 yards, three touchdown passes, a touchdown running the football, and zero interceptions.
The Texans currently have a 1-3 win-loss record but also are currently only a game out of first place in the AFC South.