SANTA CLARA (Calif.) -- The public has been urging Trey Lance, rookie quarterback, to get more involved in the offense's success.
However, Kyle Shanahan, the Niners' coach, made clear Wednesday that Lance is not pushing Jimmy Garoppolo to the starting job. He said that Lance would be able to play when it makes sense.
Shanahan stated, "There is not a quarterback battle right at the moment." "We're sticking with our starting quarterback, who I believe is doing very well. Trey will not be put in any precarious situations. I'm glad he is. Trey can handle that situation if he is ever forced to. But Trey and our team have the luxury of not having to deal with it yet.
After Sunday's disappointing offensive performance by the 49ers, which resulted in a 30-28 loss to the Packers, questions were raised about Lance's involvement. The offense failed to score any points for the second consecutive week. They did so on Lance's 1-yard run just before halftime.
The 49ers' offense had only 65.5 yards per game in the first half and just 7 points in the second.
These slow starts combined with recent running back injuries to the Niners -- Rahem Mostert is out with a knee injury, JaMycal hasty is on injured reserves with a high right ankle sprain, and Elijah Mitchell was not able to play last week due to a right shoulder injury -- led some to wonder whether Shanahan might look to Lance more often to spark a sagging run or give the defense something to look at.
Shanahan stated, "If that were the case, then we would do it."
Shanahan was asked Wednesday by Shanahan what Lance would need to do in practice to make him more active in the offense. He reiterated Lance's current role.
Shanahan stated, "Trey is our backup quarterback." This is not the preseason. "We're not going back and forth constantly."
Lance has only played seven snaps through three games and has scored two touchdowns from those few opportunities. In Week 2, he did not play against Eagles. Lance did not play against the Eagles in Week 2.
Lance stated, "There are no situations I know I'm not going into or that I don't just keep ready like all the other tight end and receivers and runningbacks that are subscribing out of the game."
Garoppolo has, however, had his ups as well as downs with the 2-1 Niners. Despite slow starts, Garoppolo ranks 13th in NFL total QBR (56.9) and 19th in passing yards (776). He is also tied for 18th with four touchdown passes. He has also run for a touchdown, thrown an intercept and lost two fumbles.
This has allowed Shanahan not only to continue Garoppolo's role as starter, but also to limit Lance's snaps. Shanahan also seemed to be annoyed by some of the talk about the quarterback situation before this week, and the resulting questions about Lance's absence.
Shanahan stated, "We have put [Lance] on to the field." We do it in situations. You can take what I have to say in training camp, and expand or retract it. When I was asked if this would be in the regular season, it was probably after our third preseason game. I replied, "probably not." It seems that a lot of words were either uttered with this stuff, or exaggerated quite a bit. It's pretty straightforward, but I don’t tell everyone everything.
"But I've been fairly consistent with what I have said."
