HOUSTON \u2013 Davis Mills\u2019 daring, clutch scramble for a touchdown won a football game for the Texans.<\/p>\n
And how the Texans\u2019 backup quarterback engineered an epic fourth-quarter comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars from a 19-point deficit still resonates to this day.<\/p>\n
Beating the Jaguars with starting quarterback C.J. Stroud out with a concussion meant a lot. The Texans were 3-5 heading into that Nov. 9 game at NRG Stadium. <\/p>\n
That game along with two more wins with Money Mills under center set the stage for their current NFL-leading 10-game winning streak heading into an AFC divisional round playoff game Sunday against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.<\/p>\n
Without Mills\u2019 contributions during the regular season, the Texans wouldn\u2019t be in this position as a dangerous playoff team. Since Stroud returned, the Texans have kept it going with seven consecutive wins.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was great to go in there and, seeing where we are now, to kind of jumpstart everything,\u201d Mills told kPRC 2. \u201cIn the moment, I\u2019m just trying to focus on doing my job, step in when C.J went down, and make sure that the level of play never dropped off. Go in there and run the offense efficiently, and find a way to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney Mills,\u201d Texans star defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The demeanor of Davis Mills is beyond steady. His voice rarely changes, regardless of the situation. Disagreements don\u2019t agree with him, or difficult situations that might stress out someone else lacking his trademark poise under pressure.<\/p>\n
That extends to Mills\u2019 life away from football.<\/p>\n
He has an analytical mind and considers himself a problem-solver.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife used to get mad at me sometimes,\u201d Mills said. \u201cShe\u2019d ask me a question or want to argue a little bit and I wouldn\u2019t react. She\u2019s like, \u2018Why are you not mad? I was like: \u2018It is what it is. We\u2019ll figure it out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
That healthy and positive philosophy, the traits of Mills\u2019 stoic low-key personality, were on full display during his run as the starter. He had some key throws, including a sideline pass to Nico Collins in a road win over the Tennessee Titans. He managed the game well in a win over the Buffalo Bills the following week.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Stressed? Mills hardly lets anyone even see him sweat.<\/p>\n
Mills passed for 915 yards, five touchdowns and one interception during his time as the replacement for Stroud.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs calm as can be, nice and easy,\u201d Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. \u201cYou just trust your guys, right? And that\u2019s what Davis has shown. Davis keeps me calm, because he\u2019s so calm in the moment. His emotions never change, which is great. I love that about Davis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his calm, his demeanor, he has that quiet confidence about him. Davis knows what he\u2019s doing. He\u2019s a competitor deep down inside, and he wants to make those plays. Our entire sideline, our team feels that from Davis. We feel his confidence when he\u2019s out there knowing that he\u2019s going to go to the right spot with the football and make a play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stroud has shown a greater comfort level in offensive coordinator Nick Caley\u2019s offense since his return from the head injury.<\/p>\n
He has passed for 3,041 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He had an uncharacteristic performance in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round, overcoming five fumbles, losing two, and one interception.<\/p>\n
Overall, though, Stroud has made strides.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI think he\u2019s continued to get better since I\u2019ve been here. When he got drafted here a couple years ago to now, he\u2019s gotten better every year. He\u2019s really playing efficient football right now, going out there and making plays when he needs to. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we need to do to win games deep in the playoffs like we are right now. We\u2019re just taking it day by day right now, for another tough opponent this week versus the Patriots, but we\u2019re excited.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Mills, his role as a backup is to support Stroud in whichever way he can.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, that means being a sounding board for ideas. Sometimes, it\u2019s about pointing out defensive tendencies.<\/p>\n
The Patriots have a sound defense designed by coach Mike Vrabel that includes Pro Bowl corner Christian Gonzalez and standout defensive tackle Milton Williams.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of what we talk about in the QB room a lot is really understanding what we\u2019re doing on our side of the ball to the highest level so we can go out there and play fast and react to what the defense gives us,\u201d Mills said. \u201cEspecially the Patriots, a lot of defenses around the league are game plan defenses. So, what you may watch on film, obviously you\u2019re going to pick up tendencies, know what some of their favorites are, but they\u2019re going to have new stuff every week. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be able to execute our offense at the highest level so we can go out there and try to do our stuff better than what they can try to do to defend us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since being drafted in the third round out of Stanford in 2021 as the first draft pick by Texans general manager Nick Caserio, Mills has grown considerably. He\u2019s signed through the 2026 season on a one-year, $7 million contract as one of the top backups in the league.<\/p>\n
Overall, Mills has passed for 7,082 yards, 40 touchdowns and 26 interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a good space,\u201d Mills said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve gotten better every year since I\u2019ve been in this league. Matured, seen a lot of good football, watched a lot of film, to see what the best quarterbacks around the league do and try to make my own game, emulate all the best things from all the guys around the league and go out there and play winning football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mills and his wife recently celebrated a joyful addition to their family roster.<\/p>\n
Tori Mills gave birth to a boy named Maximus Steven Mills the first week of January.<\/p>\n
Mills spent some extra time with his family before the Texans\u2019 road game against the Steelers, traveling independently to arrive Monday before kickoff.<\/p>\n
The family has a lot to celebrate, including Maximus\u2019 birth, and a good football season that Mills has played a key role in for the advancement of the Texans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a blessing,\u201d Mills said. \u201cSeeing my wife change this past year and ultimately give birth to our son, it\u2019s an amazing feeling. Obviously, a lot of credit to my wife for doing everything. It was extremely hard and I can\u2019t take for granted what she\u2019s done for us and our family, but it\u2019s exciting. Obviously learning something new every day, being our first child. So, extremely blessed and excited to see how he grows, but also how we finish this season.<\/p>\n
Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com<\/p>\n
(2:47) It\u2019s a blessing. (2:49) Seeing my wife change this past year and ultimately give birth to our son, (2:54) it\u2019s an amazing feeling.(2:56) Obviously a lot of credit to my wife for doing everything. (2:59) It was extremely hard and I can\u2019t take for granted what she\u2019s done for us and our family, (3:05) but it\u2019s exciting. (3:07) Obviously learning something new every day, being our first child, (3:10) so extremely blessed and excited to see how he grows, (3:15) but also how we finish this season.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Davis Mills\u2019 daring, clutch scramble for a touchdown won a football game for the Texans. And…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[1028,24165,7,221,253,2368,249,6,84,222],"class_list":{"0":"post-682895","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-texans","8":"tag-c-j-stroud","9":"tag-davis-mills","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-texans","13":"tag-houstontexans","14":"tag-new-england-patriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-playoffs","17":"tag-texans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115907411803115072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}