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Figured we need a spot for non-Niner news this season.

Trey Lance getting some buzz for his preseason performance. He looked pretty good in his first start. Caveat that I did not watch his performance this week other than the highlights, but I'm finding praise for a it a bit odd. I harbor no ill will toward Lance, and am actually pulling for him to make an NFL career. But are we really praising a guy - even if he ran well, scrambled effectively on third down, and had a rushing TD - who completed 50% of his 14 passes for 55 yards, failed to complete a pass more than five yards downfield, fumbled a snap, and was sacked twice (with a third that was overturned due to penalty) playing against a vanilla pre-season D? Call me crazy, but I'd like to see him actually play well as a passer before we declare him fixed.

CrimsonCrew wrote:Trey Lance getting some buzz for his preseason performance. He looked pretty good in his first start. Caveat that I did not watch his performance this week other than the highlights, but I'm finding praise for a it a bit odd. I harbor no ill will toward Lance, and am actually pulling for him to make an NFL career. But are we really praising a guy - even if he ran well, scrambled effectively on third down, and had a rushing TD - who completed 50% of his 14 passes for 55 yards, failed to complete a pass more than five yards downfield, fumbled a snap, and was sacked twice (with a third that was overturned due to penalty) playing against a vanilla pre-season D? Call me crazy, but I'd like to see him actually play well as a passer before we declare him fixed.

People who I know who actually watched the game didn't come away impressed. Supposedly a lot of simple one read throws which if true masks the issues that Lance has and what he will have to overcome to become a good QB in the NFL. Of course, he is headed back to the bench. The only question is whether he will be second or third string again. But we have people like Grant Clown who was slobbering all over his performance. He has a man crush on Lance for some reason.

Former 49er Aaron Banks hurt his back in late July. Some in GB are starting to question the signing. Jaylon Moore it appears isn't going to be a starter. He is going to be a swing tackle.

Pattersonca65 wrote:

CrimsonCrew wrote:Trey Lance getting some buzz for his preseason performance. He looked pretty good in his first start. Caveat that I did not watch his performance this week other than the highlights, but I'm finding praise for a it a bit odd. I harbor no ill will toward Lance, and am actually pulling for him to make an NFL career. But are we really praising a guy - even if he ran well, scrambled effectively on third down, and had a rushing TD - who completed 50% of his 14 passes for 55 yards, failed to complete a pass more than five yards downfield, fumbled a snap, and was sacked twice (with a third that was overturned due to penalty) playing against a vanilla pre-season D? Call me crazy, but I'd like to see him actually play well as a passer before we declare him fixed.

People who I know who actually watched the game didn't come away impressed. Supposedly a lot of simple one read throws which if true masks the issues that Lance has and what he will have to overcome to become a good QB in the NFL. Of course, he is headed back to the bench. The only question is whether he will be second or third string again. But we have people like Grant Clown who was slobbering all over his performance. He has a man crush on Lance for some reason.

I caught more of his first preseason game, and he made some nice throws. But Lance was always capable of the occasional great throw. The issue was consistency. In the most recent game, I watched just the highlights, but I can't recall a completion of more than five yards. He did appear to throw a nice ball into tight coverage in the endzone that the receiver could have brought in but didn't, but I didn't have a great angle on it. But he fumbled a snap, took multiple sacks, couldn't make accurate throws downfield, and repeatedly bailed and ran instead of throwing on third down. Seemed like more of the same that we've seen except he did a somewhat better job of escaping pressure and running on third down.

I truly hope Lance can make something of himself. It's not his fault the Niners made a series of awful decisions surrounding him (paying a premium months before the draft to move up, doing so before scouting the players, taking an incredibly raw player with limited college experience, apparently not noticing that he had major accuracy issues, etc.), and all accounts are that he's a really great guy. But if improving your accuracy and reading NFL defenses was easy, we'd have more than 12-15 good QBs in the league.

I think Cohn goes on and on about Lance because it makes the Niners look bad, and that's kind of his shtick. But acting like that Niners had some sort of agenda to derail Lance is asinine. Why would Shanahan want the guy his job may have very well depended on to fail? Certainly Shanahan could have made more changes to the offense to support Lance, and he definitely ran him too much which arguably contributed to his ankle injury. But what do you do with a guy who can't read even basic NFL defenses?

Pattersonca65 wrote:Former 49er Aaron Banks hurt his back in late July. Some in GB are starting to question the signing. Jaylon Moore it appears isn't going to be a starter. He is going to be a swing tackle.

I was shocked both guys got paid so much. Sure, I would have loved to keep Moore as solid depth, but I wouldn't have wanted to sign him up for starting duty (though we may be begging for a player like Moore in two years given how the future of our OT position looks). Banks had a couple good games for us at the start of his third season, but couldn't stay healthy and was downright awful when playing through injury. That felt like addition by subtraction.

Pattersonca65 wrote:Former 49er Aaron Banks hurt his back in late July. Some in GB are starting to question the signing. Jaylon Moore it appears isn't going to be a starter. He is going to be a swing tackle.

Josh Simmons is way too talented not to start at LT if he's healthy, Moore being the swing T is the contingecy plan

clyde21 wrote:

Pattersonca65 wrote:Former 49er Aaron Banks hurt his back in late July. Some in GB are starting to question the signing. Jaylon Moore it appears isn't going to be a starter. He is going to be a swing tackle.

Josh Simmons is way too talented not to start at LT if he's healthy, Moore being the swing T is the contingecy plan

If Simmons shows no ill effects from that knee injury and has a 10+ year career - even if he's only a good, not great LT - I'm going to be so very irritated he fell to the Chiefs.

Matthew Stafford has a serious back issue. Could be a big blow for the Rams if this is a season long issue and could very well effect the outcome of the division. Other QBs with similar back injuries have been affected by it. And none were as old as Stafford at age 37. If Stafford can't go, it will be the Jimmy G show. Jimmy G is no Stafford though and counting on him to last a full season is a real question mark.

Is it bad that my first thought is, "Damn, I just got tix to the Rams-49ers game thinking it might be for the division!"? Though it was an auction prize and other options were the Falcons and Jags, so it still feels like the right call.

CrimsonCrew wrote:

Pattersonca65 wrote:

CrimsonCrew wrote:Trey Lance getting some buzz for his preseason performance. He looked pretty good in his first start. Caveat that I did not watch his performance this week other than the highlights, but I'm finding praise for a it a bit odd. I harbor no ill will toward Lance, and am actually pulling for him to make an NFL career. But are we really praising a guy - even if he ran well, scrambled effectively on third down, and had a rushing TD - who completed 50% of his 14 passes for 55 yards, failed to complete a pass more than five yards downfield, fumbled a snap, and was sacked twice (with a third that was overturned due to penalty) playing against a vanilla pre-season D? Call me crazy, but I'd like to see him actually play well as a passer before we declare him fixed.

People who I know who actually watched the game didn't come away impressed. Supposedly a lot of simple one read throws which if true masks the issues that Lance has and what he will have to overcome to become a good QB in the NFL. Of course, he is headed back to the bench. The only question is whether he will be second or third string again. But we have people like Grant Clown who was slobbering all over his performance. He has a man crush on Lance for some reason.

I caught more of his first preseason game, and he made some nice throws. But Lance was always capable of the occasional great throw. The issue was consistency. In the most recent game, I watched just the highlights, but I can't recall a completion of more than five yards. He did appear to throw a nice ball into tight coverage in the endzone that the receiver could have brought in but didn't, but I didn't have a great angle on it. But he fumbled a snap, took multiple sacks, couldn't make accurate throws downfield, and repeatedly bailed and ran instead of throwing on third down. Seemed like more of the same that we've seen except he did a somewhat better job of escaping pressure and running on third down.

I truly hope Lance can make something of himself. It's not his fault the Niners made a series of awful decisions surrounding him (paying a premium months before the draft to move up, doing so before scouting the players, taking an incredibly raw player with limited college experience, apparently not noticing that he had major accuracy issues, etc.), and all accounts are that he's a really great guy. But if improving your accuracy and reading NFL defenses was easy, we'd have more than 12-15 good QBs in the league.

I think Cohn goes on and on about Lance because it makes the Niners look bad, and that's kind of his shtick. But acting like that Niners had some sort of agenda to derail Lance is asinine. Why would Shanahan want the guy his job may have very well depended on to fail? Certainly Shanahan could have made more changes to the offense to support Lance, and he definitely ran him too much which arguably contributed to his ankle injury. But what do you do with a guy who can't read even basic NFL defenses?

Cohn also castigated the Dallas coaching staff claiming they did not utilize Lance correctly or make changes to their offense to suit Lance. We know Shanahan is not going to alter his offense. They just made a big miscalculation thinking they could compete with Lance right away given his lack of playing experience and age.

CrimsonCrew wrote:Is it bad that my first thought is, "Damn, I just got tix to the Rams-49ers game thinking it might be for the division!"? Though it was an auction prize and other options were the Falcons and Jags, so it still feels like the right call.

Who knows will either team will be. The niners have to stop loading the training room with injured players. They cannot afford to lose players especially given the lack of depth in certain places.

While I like my team’s voices to include critics like Cohn, there’s no doubt he’s leaning into polemics for commercial reasons. Getting upset enough to refute his takes is just going to encourage more, the only thing that’ll make it stop is crickets.

As for TL, agree with CC, he is universally said to be a really nice hard working guy and none of what happened was his fault. I hope he succeeds…at least now that he’s not a Cowboy. But I am very skeptical.

Harry Palmer wrote:While I like my team’s voices to include critics like Cohn, there’s no doubt he’s leaning into polemics for commercial reasons. Getting upset enough to refute his takes is just going to encourage more, the only thing that’ll make it stop is crickets.

As for TL, agree with CC, he is universally said to be a really nice hard working guy and none of what happened was his fault. I hope he succeeds…at least now that he’s not a Cowboy. But I am very skeptical.

I still read Cohn's practice reports. I think he's generally pretty honest and realistic in terms of individual player evaluation. He's gone a little off the edge for me in terms of the negativity - he was fairly unrelentingly negative as they were going to the NFCCG and SB - but he's a useful foil to a guy like Lombardi who always seems to put a positive spin on things.

Back to Lance for a second, we're talking about praising a QB who completed 50% of his passes and whose yards per COMPLETION was lower than Brock Purdy's career yards per ATTEMPT by more than a percentile.

CrimsonCrew wrote:

Harry Palmer wrote:While I like my team’s voices to include critics like Cohn, there’s no doubt he’s leaning into polemics for commercial reasons. Getting upset enough to refute his takes is just going to encourage more, the only thing that’ll make it stop is crickets.

As for TL, agree with CC, he is universally said to be a really nice hard working guy and none of what happened was his fault. I hope he succeeds…at least now that he’s not a Cowboy. But I am very skeptical.

I still read Cohn's practice reports. I think he's generally pretty honest and realistic in terms of individual player evaluation. He's gone a little off the edge for me in terms of the negativity - he was fairly unrelentingly negative as they were going to the NFCCG and SB - but he's a useful foil to a guy like Lombardi who always seems to put a positive spin on things.

Back to Lance for a second, we're talking about praising a QB who completed 50% of his passes and whose yards per COMPLETION was lower than Brock Purdy's career yards per ATTEMPT by more than a percentile.

Agreed on Cohn as he used to mainly highlight the negative and just got blowback for pointing out things fans didn't want to hear or like the way it was presented. Now it's always looking for the negative in everything every time all the time even if it's a completely absurd take.

The issue is that I'm pretty sure he knows it's absurd but because he needs content and needs to stand out he says all this stuff because he knows it'll get clicks and stir the discussion.

Reminds me of a Skip Bayless who I think a lot of people don't understand is being hyperbolic and pushing unpopular takes intentionally because he knows that especially on a debate show you have to have some wild takes to get a big debate going. It's kinda like the classic wrestling heel stuff.

Jikkle wrote:

CrimsonCrew wrote:

Harry Palmer wrote:While I like my team’s voices to include critics like Cohn, there’s no doubt he’s leaning into polemics for commercial reasons. Getting upset enough to refute his takes is just going to encourage more, the only thing that’ll make it stop is crickets.

As for TL, agree with CC, he is universally said to be a really nice hard working guy and none of what happened was his fault. I hope he succeeds…at least now that he’s not a Cowboy. But I am very skeptical.

I still read Cohn's practice reports. I think he's generally pretty honest and realistic in terms of individual player evaluation. He's gone a little off the edge for me in terms of the negativity - he was fairly unrelentingly negative as they were going to the NFCCG and SB - but he's a useful foil to a guy like Lombardi who always seems to put a positive spin on things.

Back to Lance for a second, we're talking about praising a QB who completed 50% of his passes and whose yards per COMPLETION was lower than Brock Purdy's career yards per ATTEMPT by more than a percentile.

Agreed on Cohn as he used to mainly highlight the negative and just got blowback for pointing out things fans didn't want to hear or like the way it was presented. Now it's always looking for the negative in everything every time all the time even if it's a completely absurd take.

The issue is that I'm pretty sure he knows it's absurd but because he needs content and needs to stand out he says all this stuff because he knows it'll get clicks and stir the discussion.

Reminds me of a Skip Bayless who I think a lot of people don't understand is being hyperbolic and pushing unpopular takes intentionally because he knows that especially on a debate show you have to have some wild takes to get a big debate going. It's kinda like the classic wrestling heel stuff.

Yeah, Cohn definitely plays up his part for clicks. Lots of negative fans out there, and negativity plays more than nuance. He and Lombardi are just polar opposites.

Lombardi tweeted about all the absurd negativity when Moody missed the FG. Not even a little absurd given the context. He was a ridiculously high draft pick, has been very unreliable - particularly down the stretch last year - and seems to struggle under pressure. Not to mention the fact that he put at least one KO in the endzone and almost missed a much shorter kick after the missed 53-yarder. If he was a UDFA or bargain basement vet, that's a fine performance. For a third-round pick, he needs to be better.

Speaking of, Cohn tweeted two videos of beautiful Lance deep balls on the perimeter in the Chargers' most recent game. The kinds of throws that Purdy has never been able to make. Of course, Lance was below 50% completions on the day, and outside of those two balls was 5 of 13 for 51 yards. Lance was always capable of the occasional amazing play. The problem with him was (is?) repeating solid play down in and down out. He's never demonstrated an ability to do that.

CrimsonCrew wrote:Speaking of, Cohn tweeted two videos of beautiful Lance deep balls on the perimeter in the Chargers' most recent game. The kinds of throws that Purdy has never been able to make. Of course, Lance was below 50% completions on the day, and outside of those two balls was 5 of 13 for 51 yards. Lance was always capable of the occasional amazing play. The problem with him was (is?) repeating solid play down in and down out. He's never demonstrated an ability to do that.

LOL, what did Cohn say? He just can't let it go.

Pattersonca65 wrote:

CrimsonCrew wrote:Speaking of, Cohn tweeted two videos of beautiful Lance deep balls on the perimeter in the Chargers' most recent game. The kinds of throws that Purdy has never been able to make. Of course, Lance was below 50% completions on the day, and outside of those two balls was 5 of 13 for 51 yards. Lance was always capable of the occasional amazing play. The problem with him was (is?) repeating solid play down in and down out. He's never demonstrated an ability to do that.

LOL, what did Cohn say? He just can't let it go.

Minimal commentary. An apparent tongue-in-cheek comment about top-5 QB with the first video and just "Oh." on the second. Lombardi commented on how Lance's YPA for the preseason is 6.0 even with these deep balls. Cohn replied by posting Lance and Jones' relative PFF scores for the preseason (Lance = 74.7, Jones = 64.0).

This one really feels like Cohn trying to get Niner fans' goats. After the first deep ball, Lance went 0-4 in the red zone (offensive penalty on first down so they replayed it) and they kicked a FG. On the next drive, they ran it in on the first down following the deep ball, though Lance threw incomplete on the 2-pt conversion attempt. The rest of the game appears to have been short passes and incompletions: three-and-out with an incompletion on 3rd down; three-and-out with a Lance rush for no gain on 3rd down; three-and-out with an incompletion on third down. Over those three drives, he went 1 of 6 for six yards.

I only watched the highlights, so maybe receivers were dropping balls, etc. But the stat sheet and play-by-play sure read like a guy who appears to be struggling with (in)consistency.

Harry Palmer wrote:While I like my team’s voices to include critics like Cohn, there’s no doubt he’s leaning into polemics for commercial reasons. Getting upset enough to refute his takes is just going to encourage more, the only thing that’ll make it stop is crickets.

As for TL, agree with CC, he is universally said to be a really nice hard working guy and none of what happened was his fault. I hope he succeeds…at least now that he’s not a Cowboy. But I am very skeptical.

Just ridiculous that Cohn can't let the TL go. I sometimes run across his comments but I don't go looking for them and avoid his tweets and overall commentary. I avoid Lombardi also as everything is rosy in his coverage. That and everything he makes a post on Youtube is " breaking news " or some big deal. There are plenty of impartial observers covering the 49ers that one has to follow those two.

TL is going back to the bench so unless Herbert gets injured or there are garbage minutes to be played, lance will not be seen from again. Cohn will probably be calling for the Chargers to trade Herbert and start Lance as the second coming of Mahomes