Shanahan Explains Why He Ditched the Two Quarterback System
SANTA CLARA -- During training camp, Kyle Shanahan said he was going to use a two-quarterback system. He said Trey Lance was too good to keep off the field. Then they practiced the two-quarterback offense daily in camp, and even in the preseason games as well.
But through the first three regular season game, the 49ers do not have a two-quarterback system. The 49ers have a starting quarterback -- Jimmy Garoppolo -- and a backup, Trey Lance, who has played just seven snaps so far. He's a footnote.
On Wednesday, I asked Shanahan why he changed his mind about his plan for the two quarterbacks.
SHANAHAN: "I didn't change my mind. We have put him on the field. We do it in situations. You can go with whatever you want what I say in training camp. You can expand on that or not, but I think I was asked coming off the field of our third preseason game if we would see this in the regular season, I said probably not. So I think a lot of words have been put in my mouth with some of that stuff, or exaggerated pretty big. I pretty much keep it pretty real with everyone, but I don't just tell everyone the answer. I have no problem with you guys overdoing that and Detroit working on that extremely hard. But I've been pretty consistent with what I've said."
ME: What was the purpose of having Garoppolo and Lance alternate snaps in the dress rehearsal preseason game? It created an expectation among the fans.
SHANAHAN: "It was preseason. It was fun to do. But it has to do with the team we're playing the next week. It doesn't have to do with reactions. It has do with how we prepare for people."
Q: Given the way the offense has started the past two weeks, is there any thought to inserting him earlier in the game to get things going a bit faster and give the defense something different to look at?
SHANAHAN: "If we thought that would be the case, we would do it."
Q: If the offense is out of rhythm early on, is there a worry that taking the starting quarterback out of the game for a couple snaps would exacerbate the situation?
SHANAHAN: "No. There just isn't a quarterback battle right now. We're going with our starting quarterback. I think he's playing very well. I'm happy that he is, so Trey isn't thrown into these situations too early. If he ever is thrown into that, then I know Trey will deal with that and get better as he goes, but we have a luxury where we don't have to do that yet to Trey or to our team. Hopefully we won't have to."
