SANTA CLARA, Calif. – As the Texans’ defense gets the calls from Lovie Smith and break the huddle Sunday at Levi's Stadium, they expect to be facing another rookie quarterback.
San Francisco 49ers first-round draft pick Trey Lance is slated to start due to regular starter Jimmy Garoppolo dealing with a painful right thumb injury, a torn ulnar collateral ligament and a small fracture, that is expected to require surgery after the season.
The Texans have already faced four rookie quarterbacks, going 2-2 against them, including a sweep of Jacksonville Jaguars rookie and top overall pick Trevor Lawrence.
In those games, including losses to the New York Jets’ Zach Wilson and the New England Patriots’ Mac Jones, the Texans have allowed an average of 229.5 passing yards, yielding four touchdown passes and intercepting five passes. They also had nine sacks. They intercepted Lawrence three times in a 37-21 victory to open the season.
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“I think just in general we have to be able to disguise coverages and throw different things at an opponent,” said Smith, the Texans’ defensive coordinator. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a rookie or not. I just know some of those young quarterbacks that we’ve played, there is something about experience. We have some young defensive players and you get better and better with experience.
“Our job is to, of course, try to disguise as much as we can before the snap. But then it just comes down to, if we are in zone coverage, reading the quarterback, getting a good break, you mentioned the pass rusher it starts with that up front. So, to be able to get some of our guys back we haven’t seen in a while to be able to rush the passer when we get them in those situations is important.”
Lance is an athletic dual-threat quarterback from North Dakota State. He has played 116 offensive snaps, starting one game against the Arizona Cardinals. During that 17-10 loss, he had 192 passing yards and one interception.
He has played in five games overall, completing 25 of 48 passes (52.1 percent) with three touchdowns and one interception for 354 yards and an 88.4 passer rating. He has rushed for 137 yards and one touchdown and has been sacked three times.
Signed to a four-year, $34.1 million contract that includes $22.2 million guaranteed with a fifth-year option, Lance replaced an injured Garoppolo in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth game. He completed 9 of 18 passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 41 yards on seven carries.
Smith hasn’t had a complete body of work to study, but he has some knowledge of Lance.
“Trey started earlier and he played a half in an earlier game, so we have some video of him,” Smith said. “Kind of know exactly what type of player we will be playing. There is a difference between he and Jimmy, but we like to think our defensive is flexible enough.
“You get in a game and you see what an offense is doing and if you need to make adjustments, you kind of do it from there. He has a different skillset. He’s more of an athletic quarterback, strong arm. You get drafted that high. We are playing a lot of those high draft picks that have great futures ahead of them. Let’s hope it doesn’t really start this week.”
The Texans have also looked back at the preseason games of Lance to gain more understanding of his style of play and capabilities.
What they don’t expect is for 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan to deviate much from his base West Coast offense.
“I do know Kyle’s offense has been the same through his whole career as a coordinator,” Texans coach David Culley said. “Obviously, they’re going to run what they run and they’ll use their quarterback with what they feel like he does best for them.”
Of course, Lance can throw to star tight end George Kittle and reliable fullback Kyle Juszczyk.
“You know, Kittle as a security blanket, he would be that way for everybody,” Smith said. “I can talk the rest of the day about him. I’m a numbers guy, too, on potential. How many tight ends do you know that are 6’4”, 6’5” whatever he is and over 250, runs a 4.5. He can vertical, long jump. All those numbers that mean something, showing explosion. That is tough duty. So, for any quarterback to have somebody like that to throw the ball to, he can line up anywhere.”
The 49ers elevated Nate Sudfield from the practice squad and signed quarterback Tyler Bray to the practice squad.
Lance rushed for 89 yards on 16 carries. He was hit eight times and sacked twice.
He was drafted third overall for a reason.
He can also rely upon Shanahan’s proven scheme and Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams.
“It’s a West Coast style offense kind of similar to what we actually ran at Stanford, too,” Texans safety Justin Reid said. “It’s a lot of stretch and cut. They’re going to have guys pull motion on every play. They want to pull guards, track the tight end across the ball. They just want to have a little bit of misdirection. They’re going to have the running back run sideways, wait for somebody to have poor eye discipline or be out of their gap, and then they’re going to hit it hard. They’re a physical offense, especially running behind big No. 71 (Williams). They favor running to that side, obviously, because he’s an All-Pro player, one of the best run-blocking offensive tackles I’ve ever seen.
“But then they’re going to have the boots and play-actions off of that with Jimmy Garoppolo. He has a little bit more of a pocket presence, whereas Trey Lance, they’re going to put a little bit more quarterback read in there, quarterback run, allow him to use his legs to buy himself more time and be more comfortable back there. So, that’s what we’re expecting out of them, to have a big run emphasis on their offensive side of the ball, boost play-actions off of that and then obviously get the ball to Deebo Samuel with some screens or putting him in the backfield.”