Trey Lance: 3 best plays from 49ers QB in Week 17 vs. Texans

In only his second start, sensational rookie Trey Lance lead the 49ers past the Texans in a spectacular display of his talents.

In a rollercoaster performance, San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance started the Week 17 home bout against the Houston Texans looking timid and a beat slow in reading defensive coverages.

Even the most casual football fan could see the rookie was feeling the pressure of the moment, his second-ever NFL start, which led to Lance being late on throws and holding onto the ball too long.

Thankfully, Lance rebounded from inconsistent and uninspiring play in the first half to using a combination of his arm strength and running ability to finally get the Niners offense rolling.

Before jumping into his three best plays of the game, it makes sense to look at his overall performance. Lance completed 16 of 23 passes for a total of 249 yards and two touchdowns. He also had an ugly interception on an underthrow intended to tight end George Kittle, and Lance also had several plays which could have ended in a costly turnover.

Yet, the young signal-caller steadied himself and threw the ball with more air yards (11.5 air yards per attempt) than any other San Francisco quarterback in the last three years, according to Next Gen Stats:

This is a big improvement over Lance’s last start way back in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals in which he threw 15 of 29 pass attempts for 192 and a pick. With more playing time, anyone can see the sky is the limit with Lance.

With that being said, next are Lance’s top three plays from Week 17.

Trey Lance to Brandon Aiyuk for 31 yards

Trey Lance hit wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk for 31 yards on a critical 2nd-and-10 play in the second quarter with 21 seconds remaining to set up the 49ers for a game-tying field goal. The 49ers ended a sluggish first half trailing 7-3, but more importantly, the game plan became more aggressive. This aggressiveness by the coaching staff led to increased confidence by Lance.

Confidence that rolled over into the second half of the game.

In this play, which you can check out here, the Niners were in need of gaining a lot of ground to get the team into a scoring position. Up to this point, it did not appear Lance was going to be able to make it happen.

Just as it seemed the half would end with a Texans lead, Lance dropped back and ripped the ball to an open Aiyuk, who snatched the ball out of the air and sprinted past defenders.

Aiyuk wisely stepped out of bounds at the 28-yard line. A few plays later, the 49ers got onto the scoreboard with a field goal and, more importantly, went into halftime with momentum back on their side.

George Kittle’s Insane One-Handed Catch

Late in the fourth quarter, San Francisco faced a 3rd-and-12 it needed to convert to ensure that Texans would not be able to come back.

Trey Lance received the hike from a shotgun position and quickly saw George Kittle had a one-on-one matchup with the Texans safety, and Lance quickly fired it to him.

While the play was made by George Kittle’s incredible one-handed grab, it was certainly also because Lance identified him on the play and threw a great ball that either Kittle could get or no one else:

https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1477787129837092864

Had Kittle not been mugged on the play by the defender, which slowed him down in the process, he would have probably rumbled for a much larger gain. Instead, the ball was on time and accurate enough for Kittle to make a terrific catch despite drawing defensive pass interference, which was declined anyway.

Read More: Trey Lance headlines 49ers position grades from win vs. Texans

While this was a great pitch-and-catch by Lance and Kittle it was, unfortunately, the sole catch made by the Pro Bowl tight end.

Still, the next play showed every fan, player, and sports pundit exactly why the 49ers drafted Lance.

Deep Bomb from Trey Lance to Deebo Samuel for a Touchdown

Head coach Kyle Shanahan let the rookie rip it deep on a spectacular play by both Trey Lance and Pro Bowl wide receiver Deebo Samuel.

Samuel ran a deep in-route from the 45-yard line within Texans territory, and Lance laid a beautiful deep pass to hit Samuel in stride.

This allowed Samuel to get past his defender and run it in for the 45-yard touchdown.

This is a quintessential Shanahan play in which players are schemed open for big gains. It included a fake handoff bootleg that made the defense freeze, while Lance threw it across the field for an absolute rope to Samuel:

One thing to note is this is exactly the kind of dynamic that has been missing from the 49ers quarterbacking position: someone who can create positive plays with their legs but also has the arm talent to complete passes to the middle-to-deep areas of the field.

Lance showed that he can be exactly what the Niners need to take their offense to the next level.

If veteran quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is not able to return next week for San Francisco’s matchup against its NFC West rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, then it is good the backup quarterback has so many tools to work with.

The question now will be if Shanahan is ready to trust his rookie more. By the way this game ended, expect Shanahan to let the rookie eat.