Kyle Shanahan didn’t seem too thrilled with the questions about his play calling contributing to Trey Lance’s season-ending injury.
Lance was hurt on a run up the middle, his third in the first quarter, breaking his ankle and being forced to be carted off. Designed quarterback runs up the middle have been a staple of the play-calling in the games that Lance has played in, including last season’s loss to the Cardinals where Lance sustained a knee injury.
Shanahan said postgame he will always regret a play call in which a player got hurt, but he didn’t regret running with Lance from a philosophical standpoint.
“Any time a guy gets hurt I wish I didn’t call that,” Shanahan said. “But no, that’s something we were gonna do, and something we were going to continue to do. That’s a football play we believe in and something we believe gives him a chance to be real successful in this league.”
When Shanahan was asked again, he was less diplomatic.
“You guys watch other teams in this league? Buffalo does it all the time with their quarterback, it’s a pretty normal play. It’s part of football and it’s pretty unfortunate that he hurt his ankle on it.
“But it’s a very normal play. You guys should watch some other people.”
It’s clear that Shanahan believes that running between the tackles is a key part of Lance’s skillset, and worth the risk of injury. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll have to wait until 2023 to see him run again.