Week 5: 49ers @ Cardinals

[thesack12]

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[thesack12]

With Trey Lance starting and Nate Sudfeld backing him up, for the first 49ers game in quite awhile NOBODY wants to see the backup QB play. LOL

Its going to be fascinating to see how Trey fares, hopefully its a fun successful ride. 9ers need this win badly.

[thesack12]

It would be nice if the defense/special teams can manage to force a turnover on Sunday.

49ers are dead last in the NFL at creating turnovers, with a grand total of 1. Its been 3.5 games since they have have created a takeaway.

[Jikkle]

Defense will likely have to carry the day if the 9ers expect to win.

You just can't really expect a rookie to get into a shootout against a quality defense in his first start on the road. Not saying it's impossible for Trey to win a shootout but just not likely especially when you consider the gameplan is almost certainly going to be run heavy ball control type of offense.

All eyes will be on Lance and this will be one of those eye test situations rather than going by just stats. You're not expecting Lance to be perfect you just want to see if he looks functional and see some progress.

Shanahan will be worth watching as well to see how he manages and uses Lance. He was drafted because you want to see him eventually have an effect like Stafford is having with the Ram's offense so I want to see glimpses of that. Let's see some play action boot action with a few deep shots and let's see some clever use of his running ability rather than zone read up the middle.

Ultimately want a win but regardless of the result I want to come away with the feeling the future is heading in the right direction. Like what we see out there is raw and unpolished but you still come away thinking that with some polish and a little more time in the oven it's going to be great in the end.

[thesack12]

They elevated Travis Benjamin from the practice squad for today's game.

I'm assuming the purpose of the move, is to have Benjamin replace Cannon on return duty. If so, it begs the question why even have Cannon still on the team?

I'd think Benjamin is solely a stopgap option for today only. With the by next week, maybe they will just use that extra time to dive deeper into available options to replace Cannon.

[thesack12]

Defense will likely have to carry the day if the 9ers expect to win.

You just can't really expect a rookie to get into a shootout against a quality defense in his first start on the road. Not saying it's impossible for Trey to win a shootout but just not likely especially when you consider the gameplan is almost certainly going to be run heavy ball control type of offense.

All eyes will be on Lance and this will be one of those eye test situations rather than going by just stats. You're not expecting Lance to be perfect you just want to see if he looks functional and see some progress.

Shanahan will be worth watching as well to see how he manages and uses Lance. He was drafted because you want to see him eventually have an effect like Stafford is having with the Ram's offense so I want to see glimpses of that. Let's see some play action boot action with a few deep shots and let's see some clever use of his running ability rather than zone read up the middle.

Ultimately want a win but regardless of the result I want to come away with the feeling the future is heading in the right direction. Like what we see out there is raw and unpolished but you still come away thinking that with some polish and a little more time in the oven it's going to be great in the end.

I agree, I don't think there any specific parameters or targeted stat threshold that Lance needs to hit in order to objectively evaluate Trey's performance today.

A lot of it will mostly be an eye test type of thing, but I think how well the offense moves the ball overall will be a key determinant.

I'd like to see Trey get settled in early. Seemed like he didn't get comfortable until like the 4th possession last week.

I want to see Trey extend plays by moving in the pocket, and escaping it, but still keeping his eyes downfield and not being hesitant to throw a pass in those situations. Last week, as soon as the pressure arrived, it seemed like he dropped his eyes and looked to run the ball in almost all of those situations.

Of course Trey's accuracy will be a big thing to watch for today. Hopefully to start the game Kyle will have a set of plays to getting the ball out quickly when Trey hits his back foot on dropbacks, which lead to easy completions. Plays like the bubble screen to Kittle on Trey's first pass last game, hitting Juice on a short route out of the backfield, sideline screens to Deebo, and quick hitting slants out of the gate could be helpful and allow Trey to develop some confidence and get into a rhythm early.

If they can get the run game going, I'd also like to see Kyle and Trey try a shot downfield at least once a half.

Of course game script is going to play a big factor as well, if the Defense can't find ways to slow down Kyler it could get ugly in a hurry. And that type of negative game script will surely not allow Kyle to call the game how he wants to, and if Lance is forced into obvious passing situations frequently he is probably going to struggle.

[Jikkle]

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Apparently there is nothing Lance can do to win the job which I don't fully buy.

The offense would have to look pretty good to make the switch but if it puts up 30+ against the Cards I don't see how you just automatically go back to Jimmy G led offense that's struggled in every game except the Lions game.

[thesack12]

Cannon still on kickoff return duty... crazy.

That kick was only like 1 yard deep in the end zone and he let it go, probably coach's orders

[thesack12]

Trey with a nice galloping first down on the first play

[thesack12]

Solid throw to Juice for the 1st down

[Dodub]

Solid start

[Dodub]

Not a huge fan of that call

[thesack12]

Awful throw by Lance there, way too high. and its his 1st career interception

[Dodub]

Dangit he should have ran

[Dodub]

He needs to tuck that and run. It was there

[thesack12]

Well this game already sucks

[Dodub]

Awful showing from the defense. Poor coverage and poor tackling

[thesack12]

Benjamin actually playing on offense is surprising, considering the WR corps is at full health currently.

I guess Trey has good chemistry with him.

[thesack12]

Just like last week, defenders are getting hands on a lot of Trey's passes

[Scott T]

That was 100% a late hit from Watt that went uncalled.