SAN FRANCISCO – Trey Lance made his debut as the starting quarterback and didn’t disappoint. Now that the era of Jimmy Garoppolo is over, Lance got off to a slow start but made up for it when he went deep for a 76-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Lance went 4-for-5 for 92 yards and one touchdown.
The San Francisco 49ers held on for a 28-21 win over the Green Bay Packers tonight in their preseason opener. Despite 20 starters sitting out tonight’s game, fans got a glimpse of what’s to come. The 49ers will be on the road for the remainder of the preseason until their home opener September 18th against the Seattle Seahawks.
“Yeah, he seemed solid, said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. “The first play he didn’t have one, made a good scramble. It was nice to come down with that third down play to [WR] Danny [Gray]. So he did some good things. It was good first game. Wish we kept him out there more, but have to get him out.”
Lance got off to a rocky start, on San Francisco’s opening drive, the team went 9 plays for 27 yards using mostly their running game. Lance went 2-for-3 for 11 yards. By the next series Lance went deep to Danny Gray for a 76-yard touchdown to extend their lead 10-7. Three plays for 77 yards was a spectacular and done in a little over a minute.
Backup quarterback Jordan Love started in place of Aaron Rodgers. Love’s first turnover came late in the first when his intended pass was for Danny Davis, who tipped the ball and it landed in the hands of Marcelino McCrary-Ball who rushed in ball for 57 yards to end the period. The 49ers had a total of three interceptions for the night, two were done by Samuel Womack III.
To start the second quarter, Lance went deep to Ray-Ray McCloud for a 39-yard touchdown to make it a 17-7 game. That play took only 6 seconds and earned Lance a perfect passing rate of 158.3. The plan is for Lance to get as many reps during the preseason and get more comfortable as the leading quarterback. Right now, the team is off to a great start.
“Get him reps out there,” Shanahan explained. “As much as you can while not getting him hurt. So that’s really my only priority and that’s why I’d love to play him the whole game if you’re guaranteed not to get hurt. Because Trey, the more reps he can get, all it’ll do is help, whether it’s good or bad that goes out there.”
“Just trying to get better, same thing, kind of the training camp mindset,”said Lance. “Be efficient, move the ball, take care of the ball. Man, give those guys a chance. Offensive line did a great job, young guys did a great job and it’s a lot more fun to win.”
The 49ers are off to Minnesota, Lance’s hometown for their next game. Saturday August 20th at 4pm.
Photo by 49ers.com
