‘Shooters shoot,’ how ‘calm, collected’ Texans backup quarterback Davis ‘Money’ Mills led epic comeback win

HOUSTON – Inside the Texans’ offensive huddle, it was quiet, almost too quiet as Davis Mills communicated the play calls from offensive coordinator Nick Caley.

Within the low-key personality and even-measured tone from the Texans’ quarterback, there was a deep confidence, though. And Mills was being his authentic self as he, again, quietly, encouraged his teammates during an epic comeback victory he engineered Sunday afternoon at NRG Stadium.

It was Mills who stepped in for starting quarterback C.J. Stroud as he remains under the NFL concussion protocol led the Texans to the second-biggest comeback in franchise history. He scored the game-winning touchdown on a daring scramble for the third rushing score of his career and his first since 2022 and delivered two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Texans scored 26 unanswered points to improve to 4-5 overall and remain relevant in the AFC wild-card playoff hunt.

“He did great. but he was almost too calm at times,” said tight end Dalton Schultz who caught one of Mills’ touchdown passes during the Texans’ 36-29 win. “He was so collected, calm, easy. He was almost too soft-spoken. We’re like, ‘Davis, speak up. We need to hear play calls a little bit, but dude, he executed it.

“I’m sure he’s gonna watch film like all of us and want a couple plays back, but, at the end of the day, man, to be at nut-cutting time and run that ball in, hell of a play, hell of a play.”

This was arguably the top performance of Mills’ career. He may very well wind up starting again next Sunday against the Tennessee Titans as Stroud is still dealing with symptoms, including sensitivity to light.

Mills and the Texans overcame an extremely rough start and a 19-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter. After an interception by Mills in the first quarter, a fumbled kickoff by Tremon Smith and allowing a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown to Travis High graduate Parker Washington, the odds were stacked against the Texans.

Instead of panicking, Mills stayed calm. When he saw the opportunity to take off on a 14-yard scramble after penalties scuttled some easier touchdown opportunities, Mills was decisive on his game-winning run. He manufactured the second-largest comeback in franchise history behind a 21-point comeback against the Chargers in 2013 when Matt Schaub was the Texans’ quarterback.

“I’ve always had the mentality to stay confident regardless of what happened on the play before,” Mills said after passing for 292 yards on 27 of 45 accuracy and an 84.7 passer rating. “It’s kind of like the old basketball mentality: shooters shoot. If you stop you’re not going to see shots go in. I think today was just a great team win.”

Mills became the third quarterback in franchise history to pass for at least 275 yards, two touchdown passes and run for a touchdown in a single game, joining Stroud and Deshaun Watson. He’s the third quarterback in the NFL this season to post that stat line.

“I feel like he was the same, even all game,” said Texans rookie wide receiver Jayden Higgins, who caught Mills’ other touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. “He was feeding us confidence all throughout the game in the huddle like, ‘C’mon, this is the drive that we’re gonna go down and score.’ I feel like he was very even all game.”

After the game, Mills got the game ball in the locker room.

Mills was nearly intercepted again early in the fourth quarter. At that point, the Texans, down on the scoreboard by 19 points, had a 1.6 percent chance of winning, according to analytics.

Mills, signed earlier this season through 2026 to a one-year, $7 million contract extension, and the Texans overcame the odds.

“Man, I just seen a lion, I seen a lion on the hunt all day,” Texans Pro Bowl defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said. “The way he led his troops, man, down the field, up and down the field, man. He’s a star, and I’m happy to have him. He’s a blessing to this team.”

He connected seven times for 136 yards with Pro Bowl wide receiver Nico Collins.

“It’s like a party out there,” Collins said. “It’s a phenomenal win. We needed this one.”

The touchdown run from Mills, a former third-round draft pick from Stanford starting his first game since the 2022 season when the Texans played so badly they wound up with the second overall pick of the draft that became Stroud and took away Mills’ starting job, didn’t surprise Collins at all.

“Davis being Davis, man,” said Collins, drafted the same year and round as Mills in 2021. “Calm, collected. It was a reason he started today and we had to go out and make plays for him. We knew he was going to be collected the entire game.”

Mills found Higgins for a 12-yard touchdown pass after converting a first down on a five-yard throw to rookie Jaylin Noel. After the score to Higgins, he completed a two-point conversion pass to Collins.

That closed the gap to 29-18. Then, Mills found Schultz from seven yards out for another score to bring it to 29-24. That set the stage for his game-winning touchdown run.

“I think the whole team had faith we were going to win that game the entire time,” Mills said. “I think our team is very confident in our own abilities. We have a lot of players who can make plays. We just needed to get things clicking.”

On the touchdown run, Mills followed his blocks, including rookie left tackle Aireontae Ersery and didn’t stop until he hit paydirt in the end zone.

“Man, I seen a guy that understood the situation, very smart player,” Ersery said. “Understood that we needed to score to win the game, we needed points. And he went down there and did exactly that, man, I’m proud of him, man.”

Mills recognized the Jaguars were in a zone coverage scheme. As he went through the progressions for a pass, he noticed that the play was opening up in the same direction where rookie running back Woody Marks’ checkdown option was.

“As I posted up in the pocket, he ended up making a big-time block and I was able to find a way in the end zone,” Mills said.

The Texans entered Sunday as the NFL’s worst-ranked red zone offense, going 0 for 3 the previous week in a loss to the Denver Broncos and 1 for 5 two games ago against the San Francisco 49ers.

With Mills under center, they went 4 for 5 in the red zone Sunday.

The Texans won their first one-score game of the season, after going winless in their previous five games decided by that margin heading into Sunday.

It was Mills leading the resiliency of the entire team.

“Davis did an outstanding job of leading the offense all week and he did it again today,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “To come out and have a pick on the first drive, it’s easy to go in the tank. But he bounced back, kept battling, kept making plays. I’m proud of Davis the way he stepped up and led all week.”

In the fourth quarter, the defense allowed no points and just 11 yards of total offense. Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter was all over Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. That set the table for Mills’ handiwork.

“Defense kept finding ways to get off the field,” Mills said. “Danielle was joking around with me in the locker room, and he was like, ‘Our defense is good.’ He was like, ‘Keep finding ways to go down and score points on offense and we’re going to keep getting you guys the ball back.’

“So, having that in the back of my head and being able to trust the guys around me, especially on the other side of the ball, to go out there and make plays, it was just a hard-fought win. It was fun.”

The life of a backup means a requirement of eternal readiness. There’s no predicting when the starter might be sidelined. In this case, Mills had an entire week to get ready for the Jaguars and the preparation paid off.

“That’s what you got to do,” Mills said. “I think with my current circumstance backing up C.J., I come in with the mentality every day that I’m going to bring my best self to the facility every morning. I’m going to push everyone around me to become the best football player they can be and I’m going to push myself to become the best football player I can be. I’ve had that mentality, cool, calm and collected at all times.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com