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The home of the San Francisco 49ers Levi’s Stadium officially became “Trey Area” at 9:47 p.m. PT on Saturday, January 1.
Why? Jimmy Garoppolo and his thumb ailment forced the ‘Niners to roll with the rookie first rounder Trey Lance, as reported by ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter.
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Then, nearly three hours before kickoff of the 49ers’ home game on Sunday, January 2 against the Houston Texans, the first-year signal-caller used this motivation before entering the place of the 49ers faithful: Posting a bible verse as an Instagram story on his personal account, which was screenshot by Jennifer Lee Chan of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Sunday represented Lance’s first start since October 10 at Arizona.
But Sunday ended in Lance earning NFL career win No. 1.
Lance’s performance — 16-of-23 passing for 249 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the 16-point win to move the 49ers to 9-7 overall — certainly sparked quite the conversation on Twitter among fans and pundits. But, Lance managed to bring an element to the 49er offense that, according to one analytics site, hasn’t been seen in three seasons over in the Bay Area.
Lance Thrived in Plays That Stretched Beyond 10 Yards
Per Next Gen Stats, the analytics site revealed that the rookie Lance went on to average the most air/yards attempt and delivered the most yardage on passes 10 yards or more than any 49ers quarterback since 2019.
The graphic chart also shows that Lance hit eight completions that were good between 10 to 45 yards when facing the Texans. And that 45-yarder to Deebo Samuel? Lance’s aerial attempt traveled 44.5 yards and had a 55.5% completion probability according to Next Gen Stats.
That Samuel connection came in a crucial moment for Lance and the 49ers: With his team up 10-7 in the fourth and needing the dagger shot — and connected with the 49ers’ most prized versatile weapon Samuel to take the lead for good.
Before that score, Lance only needed to throw the football four times in the opening quarter. But he completed all four attempts. However, noted by The Athletic’s David Lombardi, the 49ers’ game plan was looking all to familiar in getting Lance situated.
Lance did make one costly rookie mistake early on: Underthrowing his intended target George Kittle on this interception.
But the next time Lance looked deep to the All-Pro tight end, it was on third down with 12 yards to go…and this occurred:
Along with adding the needed vertical element to blow past the Texans, Lance got eight different receivers involved in the passing game. He told AJ Ross of CBS Sports that he didn’t want to overwhelm himself out there.
“I just wanted to come in and not try to do too much,” Lance said in the postgame. “Just get the ball, obviously, in the playmaker’s hands. They make it super easy. It’s my job to just get them the ball. Those guys make plays.”
Twitter Reacts to Lance’s Performance and First NFL Victory
There’s one analyst and NFL writer who believed the 49ers would have had a different outcome in two notable losses had Lance taken the quarterback reins: Grant Cohn of Sports Illustrated’s “All 49ers.”
Columnist Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle gave a humorous take on the Lance interception.
But, Lance got red-hot toward the end of the first half as noted by ESPN 49ers reporter Nick Wagoner.
Akash Anavarathan of SB Nation’s “Niner Nation” had a less-blunt tweet compared to Cohn and a less-humored one than Killion, but it was a post that left him convinced about the rookie.
Then, Lombardi let it be known to the 49ers faithful that they should be happy about Lance.
Now comes this: Will the rookie QB be the guy who leads the 49ers against a Los Angeles Rams team that’s lost their last five games against the 49ers, but has won their last five contests to position themselves for the NFC West title with a win next week? If Lance does play, it’ll come with a different high magnitude compared to the Texans game.
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