Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Lance saw the most action of any of the five quarterbacks — Kyle Shanahan wanted to see how he’d do after a rough two-minute period at the end of the first half, so he also got the first series of the third quarter. Lance played all but the first series in the first half against the Chiefs after Jimmy Garoppolo went 3 for 3 for 26 yards on the 49ers’ first drive.
Lance started out with a nice throw on the run that was dropped by receiver Brandon Aiyuk, and on third down of that first drive, a sack ended it. Then, at the start (and the end) of his second drive, Lance rolled to his left and threw a textbook throwback to a corner post, and receiver Trent Sherfield was the lucky recipient.
TREY LANCE WITH AN 80-YARD STRIKE 😤
(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/J1ird6186A
— ESPN (@espn) August 15, 2021
“Yeah, it was a naked with a break really, we call it a keeper with a break,” Lance said after the game. “So the plan was, you had to come around the edge and pull up and see Trent, he set his angle perfectly, as you saw. So for me, it was, you know, working Trent and then working to the high cross coming back down. He was my first look. I was a little bit nervous coming around because the corner had gotten hands on him a little bit, so he was probably at you know, five to 10 yards where typically if he didn’t have hands on, he’d be already, you know, down the field at 15. But yeah, he made a great play, obviously set the angle perfectly. So for me it was one of those situations, obviously I wanted to try to get the ball in his hands.”
Great play. For my money, though, Lance’s most impressive play came in the second quarter, after Kansas City punter Tommy Townsend pinned the 49ers at their own one-yard line. Instead of taking the quick, safe play, Lance calmly waited for tight end Charlie Woerner to come open, and hit him with a 25-yard strike.
From his own end zone… @treylance09 #KCvsSF #NFLPreseason pic.twitter.com/qK9O4xT3Zj
— NFL (@NFL) August 15, 2021
Not that Lance’s debut was perfect. He finished his day with five completions on 14 attempts for 128 yards and that 80-yard touchdown. Four of those incompletions came on receiver drops and good throws. At the end of the first half, Lance started to get a bit frenetic — perhaps trying to make something happen. He was sacked four times, and nearly threw an interception early in the third quarter.
Still, there’s a lot to build on here, and Lance didn’t do too much to drop him in the quarterback competition with Jimmy G.
