Battle Red Blog
The Day After the Day After…when the raw, immediate emotions from the aftermath of a game diminish into the realm of clarity and the proverbial (or literal) hangover no longer haunts the mind. With that, a review of Week 10:
The Entire Davis Mills Experience: Coming into this game, there wasn’t a lot of expectations that Mills could spark anything out of this Houston offense. For the 1st three quarters, those fears bore out. He had a horrid INT on the first drive and despite showing a few flashes, he could not get the offense going. Mills had an unfortunate misfire on an early 1st Quarter 3rd down conversion, hitting Schultz for a nice gain to move the chains, but ignoring a wide-open Hutchinson who would have netted at least 20 more yards on the play. When the Jags went up 29-10 late in the 3rd quarter, fans started departing the stadium. Few could blame them. In the past, Mills possessed the ability to cut into leads, and for a while, it seemed like Mills would offer some empty offensive calories. Yet, on the final drive, Mills showed why Houston continues to keep him around. The first two throws on the drive were awful near INTs. Yet, on the key 3rd down play (more later), he made the throw he had to make. From there, Mills led the offense in a rather calm/effective manner. Even when the offense did its best to derp the game with back-to-back penalties, Mills stayed focused and offered up his most impactful QB scramble to take the lead. The muffed snap on the 2-pt conversion sucked, but that wasn’t all Mills. Overall, Mills validated his back-up contract and may have saved the season.
Texans’ Defense, Great when they needed to be: The calling card for the 2025 Texans is their ferocious defense. #1 in scoring and yards allowed before kickoff. Yet, the 3rd quarter might have been among the worst they’ve played this year. Houston’s pass rush failed to get home on Lawrence, and wide-open zones allowed Jags receivers to operate at will. Allowing the Jags to convert on 3rd and 17, when Houston failed to secure the tackle, and seeing the Jags score the TD to go up 29-10 seemed the death kneel for the squad. Yet, after that, they played perhaps their most effective quarter of defense this season. On three drives, they held the Jags to 1 yard, only 1 first down and prevented the Jags from running off valuable clock. Then, when Jacksonville only needed ~15 yards on the final drive, Houston shut down the Jags, keeping Little from trying a long-range FG. As of this writing, Houston still maintains the #1 ranking in points and yards allowed.
The Critical Play:
In this game, you have plenty of candidates for this role. If the Jags had won, you could look to that 3rd and 16 conversion in the 3rd quarter....
