Empty the Notebook Week 10: Jaguars vs Texans | QB Davis Mills got his first start since 2022

Davis, that was unreal. How did this team just come back from a 19-point deficit in the fourth quarter? I mean, it was a great team win. Uh the guys never lost faith, really executed today on all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams. Um, but I mean, we went in the locker room, really knew we were still in the game. Obviously, going down early on, it’s tough, but our guys have a great mentality to constantly attack and be aggressive. And I mean, offensive line put on some big time draw uh drives, running the football. Running backs did a great job spreading around to the receivers, making plays, and our defense kept finding ways to get off the field and get us the ball back so we could go out there and score. All right, time now to empty the notebook with NFL and CBS reporter Evan Washburn, who was on the sideline for really just one of the craziest games of week 10. And Evan, that was an incredible finish, right, that we just saw there in Houston. I think rallied from 19 points uh down in the fourth from Davis Mills who hadn’t had a start since 2022. He was responsible for all three of those touchdowns in the surge. He was able to get the ball to start. How what stood out to you and how they were able to pull this off? Katie, I’m still trying to figure it out. I mean, it is this is year 12 for me doing these NFL sidelines and that’s up there in terms of a complete flip of momentum, but also when you factor in that it was a backup quarterback, his first start in 34 months and the fact that they never gave up and NFL players don’t give up in games, but the reality usually sets in when you’re down 19 and it can impact play and usually the opponent has something to do with it. We’ll get to the Jacksonville side of things in a little bit here, but I think it really starts with their defense. The defense for the Texans all game long long was playing at an elite level. And yes, there was points scored in special teams, short fields off of turnovers in the first half from Houston. So, the numbers didn’t reflect that, but they wore on Jacksonville and they gave their offense led by Davis Mills an opportunity to find their rhythm. And I really think you saw it in the last possession of the first half where they move the ball and then they throw a Hail Mary, a 51 yard to Nico Collins. They don’t score on it, Katie, but again, it was back-to-back possessions. They’d scored 10 points in that second quarter. They get that big play to end the half. And they carried that. And you could see Davis Mills, a guy who’s a bit rusty, started to find his rhythm, especially in the fourth quarter when they were able to stack scoring possessions. And somehow Jacksonville just left that door open enough for them to pull off a pretty historic comeback. Yeah, Jacqueline Deastino is right next to me and she is just absolutely sick over this. Yeah, sorry Jacqueline. I know this is this is a tough segment for you. Let me go grab I want to rip my IFB out right now. Okay. Like I lived it in person and now I’m just having to watch it again. Like the game on the line, the fumble. Oh my god. But you know what? Kudos to to Houston. They deserve it. I mean, you can’t do that if you’re Jacksonville. So, um, your hats off to the Texans. Yeah, and a hats off obviously to Davis Mill, right? Mill stepping in for the injured CJ Strad. Uh, he shook off an early interception and delivered nearly 300 yards and he was able to get that ball to start the game. Let’s take a listen. Extremely grateful for the opportunity. Um, I kind of joke around about it all the time, but I just say I’m out here doing my job. Um, never know when I’m going to get my my name called to go in. Unfortunately, with CJ getting banged up last week, hopefully he should he’s recovering well and should be back soon, but extremely grateful for the opportunity and uh the team trusting in me to go out there and win the game. And I mean, it’s exciting and it’s great that we got the dub. Yeah, you never know when when you’re going to get your name called there. Three touchdowns, gamewinner in the final seconds. What more can you tell us about just how he handled his first start since 2022? It’s a great story, Katie. And Texans fans know this, but it’s important to remind the general NFL public that Davis Mills was a thirdrounder back in 2021. He was the starter in Houston for two seasons and they were the two really lean years where you had David Cully as head coach and then Lovey Smith. His last start was the win over the Colts that led to the Texans getting the number two pick instead of the one pick in the 2023 draft that led to them getting CJ Strad. He then becomes the backup, but then Strad goes down his rookie year with a concussion. similar situation to what we saw a couple weeks ago and they decided to jump Mills in line and went with Case Keenum the number three to be the starter when Strad was down which made Davis Mills obviously realized man they don’t trust me to step in when we need to try and keep things afloat while the starter’s down most quarterbacks as you all know they would have moved on after that season find a better opportunity as a backup where maybe the team wants you and believes in you but Davis, to his credit, took a different approach and he was humbled by that moment and he took it into an off season, got himself back together, earned the number two gig again behind CJ Strad and has elevated himself to being someone the Texans extended in training camp because of how well he played as the number two and he believes Katie that he is a starter in this league. Whether or not that’s true remains to be seen, but if he can play like that and show that type of mental toughness and resiliency and playmaking, he is definitely somebody who’s earned that high-end backup money that, as we’ve seen, sometimes turns into kind of a long-term, at least within a season opportunity to be the guy. He He certainly proved with this last game that he could be the guy if he continues to play like that. And everybody just loves a comeback story like that. Um, obviously Houston is very thrilled with him, but certainly NFL fans as a whole are rooting for him. On the flip side, it was just a brutal collapse for Jacksonville. The offense completely stalled in the fourth quarter. The pass rush just disappeared, and a few costly mistakes opened the door for Houston’s rally. So, from your vantage point on the sideline, what went wrong for the Jags down the stretch? Well, a number of things went wrong. I think you have to start offensively. They never had any rhythm, momentum, consistency on that side of the ball. They generated most of their points again off of short fields, off of turnovers from Houston in the first half, a special teams touchdown, and they had 87 yards of total offense at the half. So, it was never good. And then it never really got better. And I think it was really in that early portion of the fourth quarter where the Texans score a touchdown. They’ve still got an a massive def deficit to try to kind of shrink. And all Jacksonville has to do is get a couple first downs and they shrink that game down and they walk away with a win. But a quick threeand out, back-to-back threeandouts to me were really the death nail for this Jacksonville team. And that forced their defense right back on the field, Katie. And they look tired. We touched on it in the broadcast. I made the point. I mean, you’ve been on those sidelines. You can see when especially the big guys, the front four are gassed and and they’re trying to catch air. And all they need is for their offense to have a bit of an extended drive. They didn’t need any more points out of them, but just keep them on the sideline to catch their wind. They couldn’t do that. And that’s what really allowed the Texans to move the ball and cut down that lead. Look, this is one of those losses. I was thinking about it on the flight home. It reminds me a little bit, not maybe as deflating as the Hail Mary from Chicago in their loss to Washington last season where they were kind of on the upswing and then that Hail Mary and things went south quickly. I don’t get that sense because I think Liam Cohen’s got this group at least from a culture perspective heading in the right direction, but there’s going to be scar tissue from this loss on a lot of levels. Evan, you were treated to such a thriller for week 10, and it seems like week 11, you got another one up your sleeves. We’re looking at the Bucks at the Bills. Baker Mayfield versus Josh Allen. Both quarterbacks looking for bouncebacks after tough losses in week 10. What can we look forward to here? Well, you laid it out perfectly. I think we’re looking at two extremely motivated MVP caliber quarterbacks and then it all trickles down from there. These are two teams that for good reason have Super Bowl aspirations and those expectations surrounding them and they’ve shown at moments this year to be able to live up to those expectations. And I think Sunday, more so on the Buffalo side of things, that was an embarrassing loss in Miami. And from everything I’ve read, I’ve yet to really watch it in depth based off of the fact we had our game and I was watching more of Tampa Bay today. But it appears they feel like they just got outplayed on every level. The Tampa Bay loss a little bit harder to evaluate. Big plays allowed. They’re still banged up. They’re still without Godwin Evans, Bucky Irving. I mean, those I like to say are explanations. Players view them as excuses. But I think that’s all part of why they lost that game to New England. But where we are now, Katie, as you know, as we’re creeping towards Thanksgiving, these are the games that carry just a bit more weight. And I think when you factor in it’s Josh Allen, it’s Baker Mayfield into that formula, into that mix in two teams coming off losses that are a bit angry right now, I think it’s it’s great for for us in the entertainment side of things. Ah, get your popcorn ready, Evan. Great stuff as always. Appreciate the insight. We will look for you on the sideline in that Bills and Bucks game Sunday 1 pm Eastern on CBS. And before that, make sure you tune in with our girl Amanda Gara and the guys for NFL Today Plus streaming every Sunday 10:00 a.m. to noon on CBS Sports HQ and also on Paramount Plus.

Evan Washburn joins CBS Sports HQ Spotlight to ‘Empty the Notebook’ from the Jaguars-Texans Week 10 matchup.

🎥 WATCH
• Subscribe to this channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NFLonCBS
• Watch CBS Sports HQ: https://cbssports.com/live
• Subscribe to Paramount+ to stream your local games LIVE and watch The NFL Today every Sunday! – https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/nfl-on-cbs/?ftag=PPM-06-10ccd8b

📱FOLLOW
• Twitter: https://x.com/NFLonCBS
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nfloncbs/?hl=en
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nfloncbs?lang=en

#nfl #texans #jaguars

2 comments
Leave a Reply