Trey Lance saw his biggest share of snaps of the season on Sunday in the 49ers Week 4 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Heading into the divisional match, Lance had appeared in just two games and totaled seven snaps across those outings.
His number was called in the second half against Seattle in relief of starter Jimmy Garoppolo. Garoppolo played through a calf injury in the first half of the contest as head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed the quarterback was stepped on during a play, which altered his ability to push off his leg.
Heading into the contest, the team only had limited packages designed for Lance as Shanahan was forced to "make moves on the fly" to accommodate the rookie.
Lance's first full half of action started off slow, with two drives that quickly resulted in punts. It wasn't until his third drive where the rookie floated a perfect throw to a wide-open Deebo Samuel for a 76-yard touchdown.
As expected, there were to be some "first game jitters" so-to-speak, taking on his largest role since joining the 49ers back in April. Per Shanahan, Lance's performance was along the lines of what he expected out of the rookie.
"Some good, some bad. I thought he went in there, for the most part, got thrown in not expecting to go in there," Shanahan said. "Ran the ball well. Hit some passes, obviously missed some passes. Was in a tough situation there when we were down two scores. Did a good job moving the chains a couple times with his legs. But it looked like a typical first game."
Lance orchestrated a successful two-minute drive late in the fourth quarter to cut Seattle's lead. The rookie connected with Kyle Juszczyk on back-to-back plays for 24 yards combined, as well as Mohamed Sanu Sr. and Deebo Samuel twice, one for his second touchdown of the day.
The quarterback closed out the second half completing 50 percent of his throws (9-of-18) for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 41 yards on the ground on seven carries, including a successful two-point conversion.
"He went in there unexpected and he competed," Shanahan said. "Trey's a football player. You guys can see that at times throughout that game, regardless of what's happening. He's always got a chance to make a play and that's why I think he did. It was good for him to take us down on that scoring drive there at the end. But it takes some time to play in this league as you guys have seen throughout.
"It's about knowing where to get rid of the ball, when to try and make those plays, when to check a down and have other guys do it for you, when to hang in the pocket, when to escape the pocket and he got a lot of real NFL game experience with that today and hopefully he'll get better from it."
The extent of Garoppolo's injury is unknown at this point. San Francisco will assess the quarterback when the 49ers return to the team facility on Monday.
As it sounds from the head coach, it appears Garoppolo will remain the starter heading into Week 5, if healthy.
