Trey Lance: Top 4 takeaways from 49ers QB’s first NFL action vs. Chiefs
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: Trey Lance must react to pressure better
Kyle Shanahan effectively disallowed Trey Lance to use his legs on Saturday night, and the quarterback who had 1,100 rush yards in college back in 2019 didn’t attempt one single run against the Chiefs, although there were times he probably wanted to.
Lance later admitted after the game it was his fault, not the offensive line, he took four sacks on his 18 drop backs.
Maybe he has a point.
On his first sack, the one where Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones blew by right guard Daniel Brunskill, Lance tried stepping up and to his left but ran into a wall, easily allowing Jones to take him down. A smarter move would have been going to the right, but let’s give Jones some credit there.
Some could make the argument Lance should have used his legs on his strip-sack fumble, too, which is evidenced in this play.
But on this play when facing the blitz, Lance needed to make that split-second decision to hit a wide-open Wayne Gallman, who was lined up in the slot and running a crossing route, instead of taking the sack from the rushing Omari Cobb.
Feeling the pressure is something Lance will have to work on as part of his maturation process, and Saturday night showed it’s not quite there yet.