QB Trey Lance Press Conference
QB Trey Lance
Press Conference – October 8, 2021
San Francisco 49ers
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What are you experiencing right now, a couple of days out from your first NFL start?
“I’m excited, obviously, but not going to make it bigger than what it is. I feel prepared and had a good week preparing, I guess, honestly, pretty similar to how I usually do. Obviously, getting more reps, I was hoping [QB] Jimmy [Garoppolo] would be healthy for sure. But he’s done an awesome job and him and [QB] Nate [Sudfeld] both have helped me out a ton this week and [quarterbacks coach] Rich [Scangarello] and [head] coach [Kyle] Shanahan as well. So, I’m excited for it for sure. Excited for the opportuni-ty.”
What’s this week been like? Usually you get a package of plays, this time the en-tire game plan is designed specifically for you against a specific opponent. So, what’s this process been like to learn the gameplan and study the Cardinals de-fense to a greater range than you had the previous four games?
“Yeah, like I said, it’s pretty similar. My preparation is pretty similar obviously other than getting more reps. But the offense is the offense. Me and Jimmy do a lot of similar things and play and see the game in a similar way. So, nothing really changes. Obvi-ously, the defense dictates more what we do than anything. But yeah, like I said, I’m excited for this opportunity.”
In terms of the actual challenge of facing an undefeated team with a star quarter-back, what kind of extra juice does that give you?
“I’m excited. I think I’d be excited regardless of what game it is. I’m probably just excited for this one as I was Week 1, 2, 3, and 4. But like I said, I’m not going to make it bigger than what it is. It’s football, I feel prepared. I feel ready to go. I’m excited to go out and compete with these guys.”
Now that you got the chance to go back and watch what you did in the second half against Seattle, what did you see? How did you evaluate your own performance?
“Yeah, I learned a ton for sure going back and watching it. But I’d say probably the same stuff right now that I did right after the game. Missed a few, some good, some bad but definitely learned a lot from it and got better from it.”
Can you tell us one or two things you learned from that experience?
“Yeah, definitely. I don’t want to go into too much detail. But yeah, I missed a few, like I said. Check downs would have been big for sure. And I think just getting a feel with these guys as far as off-schedule stuff for sure with the receivers has been awesome. Not that you get to rep it a ton, but just for those guys being able to see it and me being able to see it. What I missed, what I did, what I didn’t do. Things like that helps me out a ton.”
I was talking to WR Trent Sherfield yesterday about you and he said he sees you often sticking around late to go watch film by yourself or whether it’s with coaches. Can you take us through some of the film sessions that you do and whether you ramped it up this week?
“Yeah, I probably ramped it up a little bit this week just probably because I had more to watch of myself which is fun during practice. But yeah, Trent’s a guy that’s also here later and the first one in, last one out for sure and everyone in the locker room will tell you that. But yeah, like I said, I’m excited. I’m not going to make it bigger than what it is, but for sure want to feel prepared and it’s my job to do so.”
You guys obviously wanted to get the run game going and you’re a part of that as are RB Elijah Mitchell and RB Trey Sermon. What does it mean to have you three rookies kind of tied at the hip a little bit as far as trying to get the ground game go-ing against the Cardinals on Sunday?
“Yeah, absolutely. Super excited to have Elijah back. He’s had a great week of prac-tice. So excited, definitely to be in the backfield, to have those guys next to me in the backfield. I have a lot of confidence in them and like I said, they’ve had great weeks of practice and I know they’re ready for it. They’ve had more reps and Trey’s healthy and Elijah’s healthy now. So, I feel very confident in those guys.”
Do you feel that Trey has run read-option stuff before? Did it take very long for you and him to get on the same page as far as reading those together?
“He has great vision all around and I noticed that and the coaching staff noticed that. And I think that’s a big reason of why he’s here. But his vision of the field and making cuts and how big and physical he can be separates him for sure. And I think him and Elijah, like I said, the one-two punch with those two guys, they’ve done a great job, each other leading the new guys in the room, helping those guys come along since they had been here since, since OTAs and training camp but also learning from each other. So, it’s been a ton of fun. And like I said, yeah, absolutely, Trey’s done a great job with vision and you can tell he’s done a lot of the same stuff.”
Hall of Famer QB Steve Young said on the radio, a little before your time, but when he was with the Buccaneers early on, very athletic and he wasn’t obviously totally refined as passer, but he said in watching you just the way you competed and you reminded him of the same kind of will he had. It was like, ‘maybe I’m not totally ready in all areas, but I’m going to figure this out and I’m going to find a way to get it done.’ I don’t know, do you relate to that and obviously do you feel like, yeah, you can find your way through some of the things that maybe you’re not ready for?
“I’m going to try to, yeah, for sure. I feel very prepared though. I really do. And I think, that’s a credit to the coaching staff and the guys around me. Those guys that have made me feel very confident this week. And I feel confident in myself just as I did going into the Seattle game and just as I did every other week before this. But I’m definitely not going to put my name up there with that guy’s name at all. But yeah, that’s pretty cool that he’s talking about me as well. But excited and feel ready for the week.”
Have you met him yet or spoken to him?
“No, I haven’t. I haven’t.”
Your first throw to TE George Kittle on Sunday was pretty well off the mark. Look-ing back was that nerves and was there any sort of, I don’t know, joking about that with George or anybody else? Just, obviously, you got into a much better rhythm as the game went on.
“Yeah. I’ll say the same thing now that I did right after the game. I wouldn’t put it on nerves or anything like that. I think just maybe overthinking it. I’m not going to, again, make it a bigger deal than it is, it’s an easy throw. I made it a million times, so I’m not even going to really think about it. But yeah, we joked about it a little bit after. Obvious-ly, it would have been much more fun to joke after a W so we are going to get that done this week.”