If you were only looking at the box score from Sunday’s preseason opener, 49ers quarterback Trey Lance looked like he hit all his marks – a solid completion percentage, a touchdown and no turnovers. But the eye test was another matter, as Lance looked indecisive and got lucky he wasn’t intercepted on multiple occasions.
Lance finished 10-of-15 for 112 yards for a touchdown, while dealing with a flood of defensive pressure nearly every time he dropped back. The second-team 49ers offensive line got chewed up and allowed four sacks.
Sam Darnold, who is competing with Lance for the QB2 role, showed some good flashes in the second half, but the Raiders ruled the afternoon with a 34-7 victory over the Niners in Sin City. After the game, Shanahan didn’t pin the blame solely on Lance for the slow start.
“It got off to a rough start for everybody,” Shanahan said. “Three 3-and-outs for the offense the first three times, I don’t put that all on Trey by any means. I thought the whole offense was sloppy to start.”
Still, the 23-year-old signal-caller wasn’t trying to dodge any responsibility.
“It doesn’t feel good to go 3-and-out, especially to start the game,” Lance said. “That was definitely frustrating, but I obviously put it on myself.”
In truth, Sunday’s game was something of a glorified scrimmage for these two franchises that held joint practices Thursday and Friday in Henderson, Nevada. No Niners starters played, while the Raiders rested virtually all of their first-stringers as well.
Considering Lance’s NFL action – whether it be preseason or regular season – has been so limited, this was a rare opportunity to see him get game reps. It wasn’t all bad for Lance, but he got sacked three times in his first three drives, before engineering a touchdown drive on the fourth series of the game.
The 49ers ran out a second-team starting o-line of left tackle Jaylon Moore, left guard Jason Poe, center Jon Feliciano, right guard Nick Zakelj and right tackle Matt Pryor. Zakelj, in particular, had a rough afternoon, but the entire unit was porous to begin the game. Shanahan also admitted there were some opportunities for Lance to get rid of the ball quicker.
“That’s always the case for anybody in this league,” Shanahan said. “When there’s a bunch of sacks, the o-line gets blamed too much. It’s usually right there in the middle.”
Ironically, Lance’s worst throw on the TD series resulted in six points. He tried to sneak in a ball to 49ers receiver Chris Conley at the back of the end zone but it was deflected by Raiders cornerback Duke Shelley, right into the hands of Niners tight end Ross Dwelley.
Shanahan was happy with Lance’s read progression on the play despite the ugly looking throw. The quarterback agreed.
“It was a ‘Yes, yes, yes, no, yes,’ situation,” Lance said. “Dwelley ended up making a great play.”
Otherwise, Lance looked sharp on the scoring drive, as he looked more comfortable following a rocky start. On the next series, Lance also uncorked a bullet to Conley for a 24-yard gain on a 3rd-and-10 play, in what was arguably his most impressive throw of the afternoon.
Lance showed his scrambling ability but also had a tendency to hold on to the ball too long and get through his reads slowly. Lance was nearly picked off after throwing into multiple defenders on his final drive, but Raiders linebacker Amari Burney couldn’t hold on to the ball.
“Definitely some good and some bad,” Lance said of his afternoon. “But it felt good to get back out there.”
The Niners trailed 14-7 at half before Darnold took over to begin the second half. Darnold threw a pinpoint pass down the right sideline for 37 yards to impressive rookie Ronnie Bell and also delivered a dart to Tay Martin for a first down later in the drive.
Darnold went 5-of-8 for 84 yards in essentially two drives, as another series was finished after one play when rookie tight end Cameron Latu fumbled. Though his final drive was stonewalled on a fourth-down QB sneak attempt, Darnold showed off a solid arm and decision making.
“I feel like I managed things well,” Darnold said. “At the end of the day, just as a team we need to play better.”
Fourth-string quarterback Brandon Allen went 5-of-8 for 36 yards and an interception, though the well-placed ball went right through the hands of Bell to the defender.
Don’t be surprised if that’s the most action Lance receives with the Niners this fall. It’s entirely possible that Shanahan gives Darnold the start for next week’s matchup against the Denver Broncos, as the two quarterbacks have been splitting second-string reps behind Brock Purdy all camp.
“Hopefully Sam will get a little more time next week,” Shanahan said.
We should definitely expect to see Purdy against the Chargers in the preseason finale, so this might be the most run Lance gets unless an injury changes the situation.
As long as Lance is surrounded by backups, it’s still too premature to make any judgments, but he definitely looked a bit rusty in his first game action since Week 2 last year.
