HOUSTON -- As Davis Mills struggled early in the season, Houston Texans coach David Culley repeated that if the rookie quarterback continued to protect the ball and “do what we ask him to do,” Mills would find the consistency the team was looking for.

And now, as Mills ends the season as the Texans’ starting quarterback, his coach and teammates point to the maturity the 23-year-old has displayed in a season where he lost his first seven starts and threw four interceptions in one game.

“He’s always really seemed above his years,” right tackle Charlie Heck said. “He never really felt like a rookie, but he’s really taken strides. He really kind of commands the huddle. You see that confidence in him. You see how he is taking control of the offense and kind of being the leader that a quarterback really should be.

“You see him just making the offense slow down a little bit, calming down everybody. He’s just making everybody take a deep breath, calm down and let’s go. The next play, one play at a time. He talks to us in the huddle, we listen to him, so we believe in him. He’s leading the way right now.”

But, whether he acts like a rookie or not, let’s compare Mills to his fellow rookie quarterbacks. The Texans didn’t have a first- or second-round pick after including both in a trade to the Miami Dolphins that brought left tackle Laremy Tunsil to Houston, but in the past two weeks, Mills has shown enough improvement to make the Texans consider letting him compete to be the team’s starting quarterback in 2022.

In the past two weeks -- both victories -- Mills ranked fifth among quarterbacks in passer rating (110.5) and yards per attempt (8.1). His four touchdowns rank sixth in that span and his completion percentage (70.2) ranks eighth. Although a small sample size, Mills ranks first in those categories among rookies during that span.

There were 10 quarterbacks drafted in 2021, including five in the first round: Trevor Lawrence (No. 1, Jacksonville Jaguars), Zach Wilson (No. 2, New York Jets), Trey Lance (No. 3, San Francisco 49ers), Justin Fields (No. 11, Chicago Bears) and Mac Jones (No. 15, New England Patriots).

Of the three quarterbacks taken in the third round -- Kyle Trask (No. 64, Tampa Bay Buccaneers), Kellen Mond (No. 66, Minnesota Vikings) and Mills -- only Mills has played this season. Mills was thrust into the starting role when Tyrod Taylor injured his left hamstring in Week 2. Taylor struggled after his return from injured reserve and was benched for Mills in Week 13.

Lawrence, thought of as a generational talent by some before he was drafted by the Jaguars, was thrown into a tough situation with holes on the roster and playing for a head coach who was fired in Week 15. Lawrence has struggled at times and has thrown only one touchdown pass in his past eight games.

The second pick in the draft hasn't done much better this season. Wilson’s best game of the year may have come Sunday in a victory over the Jaguars, when he had a season-high QBR of ​​92.4.

So far, Lance has played significant snaps only when Jimmy Garoppolo has been injured, but he could start Sunday against the Texans if Garoppolo is out with a right thumb injury.

Jones has looked like the best rookie quarterback so far, but he has thrown two interceptions in each of his past two games and had a passer rating of 31.4 against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Jones is 9-6 as a starter and is the only starting rookie quarterback with a winning record.

There have been only three games this season when a rookie quarterback has had a passing rating of 130 or more. Mills has two of them (Week 5 against the Patriots and Week 16 against the Los Angeles Chargers) and Jones has the other.

After the Texans’ 41-29 victory over the Chargers on Sunday, Culley said one of the challenges with working with rookie quarterbacks is “they don’t know what they don’t know.”

“It’s kind of hard,” Culley said. “You just kind of bring them along. You just let them know what the process is. It’s a step by step thing. It’s a long process. Basically what ends up happening is, you don’t really find out all the stuff we are talking to you about until you get out on the field and experience it, because things happen so much faster when you are actually out on the football field, as opposed to us talking about it and looking at it on video.

“[Mills has] done a really nice job of taking what we’ve gone through at OTAs up to this point, and fortunately for him, he’s been able to play quite a bit early when we threw him in. He’s just progressed in it. I think all of those things that we went through back in OTAs has been a big help for him 'til this point.”

Culley said he’s seen Mills grow “tremendously” in his decision making, and offensive coordinator Tim Kelly has been able to trust Mills more with the offense than he could early in the season.

While starting for Taylor before the veteran quarterback recovered from his left hamstring injury, Mills threw eight interceptions. He’s thrown only one in his past four games.

Mills said he notices a difference in how he’s able to “anticipate" pre-snap situations.

“Just the way I've grown in this offense, I feel like I'm able to make smarter decisions and not force footballs into tight windows and tight coverage,” Mills said.

And while fellow rookie Nico Collins said Mills is “still learning” and “still getting comfortable,” the wide receiver also said he’s seen how “calm and collected” the quarterback is.

“He stays calm; he’s the same person even if he makes a bad play, good play,” Collins said. “He’s calm, level-headed, he’s humble. Davis, the sky’s the limit for him. I want to see him reach it.”