Trey Lance Breakdown: Progress, Areas To Improve & QB2 Battle After Cowboys’ 1st Two Preseason Games

[Music] good morning and welcome into the Cowboys report we will break down the trance video as promised but Today's Show is made possible by ran I'm rocking the same Polo I do in the semi cheesy intro video get yours and 20% off your order by going to ran.com chatsports and using Code chatsports so as promised we are breaking down what we've seen positively negatively and everything else in between from Trey Lance through his first two games with the Dallas Cowboys and there has been good and there has been bad uh so I want to look at the the outlook for Trey Lance where he I thought he undoubtedly has gotten better both in training camp but in particular in the past couple games for the Dallas Cowboys now I you guys I'm sure have watched the games very closely as well so I want you to grade what you have seen from Lance so far A B C D or F in the comments section it is a very low bar from what we've seen opposite him I would argue Tre Lance has been the most impressive quarterback in the first two preseason games that he has been involved it the Rams did not play Matthew Stafford the Cowboys did not play Dak Prescott Cooper Rush has barely played but if the floor STS and Ben at a bad performance from Garder minchu and noell you know the floor is not very high but L got better higher completion percentage in week two compared to week one he dialed back to rushing yards a little bit and far fewer passes from week one to week two not that big of a difference in passing yards the overall passing success big plays we'll get into in some of the negatives there but I thought week one to week two undoubtedly was a step forward I think a lot of the trance conversation the discourse The Narrative which to an extent uh from what I've seen is is kind of cooked it's already rapidly becoming the uh fandom side of you're either with me or you're against me and there's no between right I believe a lot of the the conversation though stems from the expectations of what you had of of what you wanted what you want still out of Trance if you wanted a qb1 that could surpass and replace Dak Prescott this year he's not there it's not even the conversation which it never should have been by the way now if you wanted a quarterback two option he's fighting for it and I think you can make real arguments that he can win that job as soon as week three the pre season is over if you wanted growth I think you got that and that's what I wanted I want to see growth from week one to week two I think from where he was started the training camp to where he is now I think he has gotten better I think that is progress from Trey Lance we'll go into why here in a little bit but will Trey Lance win that quarterback 2 job over Cooper rush if it's even announced it may or may not be uh why for yes and for I you have to do it by week one but will Tre Lance win that qb2 job why for yes and for no in the comment section I think one big area of the growth we'll discuss on Today Show which is specifically built in the preseason but I think you've seen it overall in training camp too is getting the ball out the week one time to throw for trance was 3.22 seconds that is not very good the week two time to throw was 2.7 4 seconds now timer going that's like a half second difference does that really that matter big of a difference yes based on the 2023 NFL regular season stats which it's not quite the same sample size so as it if you need to the 3.22 time from week one would have been the season long second longest time to throw the week two version was number 12 so he went from a guy holding the ball way too long the only guy held it longer was Justin Fields not company want to be in you're an D you you're dual threat you'll hold the ball a little bit longer it's not the end of the world if you're making plays as a result you'll live with some of the downsides of that double-edged sword to an extent number 12 much better and I think a lot of that had to do with the offensive 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the dropbacks there they made life easier on Lance and he game managed better I also think he had fewer misplays now there were fewer plays to make in general but I still think the percentage went down in week one look he had he had multiple touchdowns he left on the field he had Cropper in the corner he he missed the read for for a touchdown he had opportunities to make big plays he missed guys he missed throws the timing was off he didn't trust what he was seeing he made it a lot easier on himself in week two now it helps when Ryan floro absolutely Jukes starting NFL Corner out of his shoes on a little little hesitation fade route the Lance put that ball right on the money he he didn't have I think as many errant High throws so I I do think that was one of the things I wanted to I specifically mentioned they cut down those misplays he absolutely did that in week two now still ways to go and we will be live of course we will be for the Cowboys third and final pre-season game against the Chargers hit that sub button so you don't miss out youtube.com/ boystv I think one of the big areas we saw growth from Trey Lance was under pressure and I thought couple of his best plays in especially in week two came on pressure there was that one play he found was schoon maker with pre pressure right in his face he wasn't phased by it here are the numbers from week one to week two week one under pressure now some of that was self-inflicted by holding the ball too long but he was seven of 13 for just 42 yards that's a really bad yards per attempt number there 3.2 week two three of four 25 yards basically doubling his yards per attempt he wasn't under pressure that much which again ties back into the offensive line angle and getting the ball out quicker when blitzed he was actually really good when blitzed in week two eight of 10 68 yards 6.8 yards per attempt they brought the house on that Red Zone fade that's what he found the the touchdown with there five of 14 meanwhile in week one lance under pressure when blitzed that kind of is one of the potential indicators of hey who who Who's going to be a good quarterback who's not going to be a good quarterback in the NFL you can't handle the blitz you can't handle pressure you're not going to make it Lance took a big step forward even if you know it's still some vanilla defenses out there so my big thing been about growth Improvement do you believe that trance will be better in week three we'll talk about some of the areas I want to see him be better at but type G for he's going to show some growth and be better or R for you're worried about regression in week three there are still many things I want to see more from Tre Lance I want to see him push the ball downfield I don't think that has been a Hallmark of the Cowboys passing offense the preseason so far the week one passing depth now I thought it was pretty solid in that medium range that 10 to 19 yardage range six of eight for 91 yards in week one lot of short stuff 15 of 23 for 85 is kind of ugly uh he also has missed some behind line of scrimmage throws sometimes those a throwaway so you can't read too much into it but didn't hit a deep ball at all in week one week two he did hit a deep Ball but it was one of two for 30 yards uh the medium passing was was again pretty solid two of two for 27 yards uh again a lot of short yardage stuff there my big take away here you had one explosive passing play per game now it's not quite a full game I know but that's not good enough it is it is a very hard life to live in football if you're getting one 20 plus yard play per game now there was another 10 to 19 yard that went for 20 plus yards uh back in week one I'm counting that I need more exposive plays so I would like to see the Cowboys try to make that more of a factor I think in the preseason you're not so much cared about winning you care about showcasing what your players can do let me see some more attempted deep shots and not just the the the one that they missed on last week was that forced play action deep ball that's not actually I feel like that's never open you know Dak loves that seam shot can we try some seam shots with Tre Lance this week can we get the ball to John Stevens on one of them think I think it's a a good idea I also still need to see better placement uh look the the accuracy the timing and at times the touch is still a work in progress for for trands when he tends to miss he tends to miss high or behind and those are dangerous misses you know you throw it behind the receiver you got a defender in trail coverage up it's picked off miss it high oh safety's got that one there they've been caught but there is a tendency to to not maximize his receiver's Yak ability and I I think there is room for that to grow and to improve and I think if if you can get that extra five yards each time that does go a long way I also just want to see him straight up make more plays like I I have not seen a ton of like highlight real plays from tril ANS a lot of them come out of the pocket you know doing some stuff with this legs but I know he can use his legs I know the arm strength is pretty solid but let me see some impressive throws like let me see some strikes downfield you let me see some impact plays light up the the box score light up the stat sheet light up the the field with highlight reel impact ability like I have seen over the years some really great Cowboys pree performances remember Will Greer last year against the the Raiders ironically by the way two of these games have come against the Raiders which is kind of funny you know Will Greer 29 of 35 305 he had 53 yards on the ground and four touchdowns Cooper rush in a part-time game against the Raiders back in 2017 12 of 13 115 passing yards and two touchdowns the entire Dak Prescott 2016 PRI right had 454 passing yards seven touchdowns I have not yet seen a impact Trey Lance Dynamic wow look how good he looked I've seen him make some nice plays but I haven't seen dominance can I see some dominance from Trey Lance so what is your confidence level in him so far scale it for me from 1 to 10 in the comment section of today's show so what's still needed then number one I want to see the ball get pushed downfield the better placement make more plays and all of that kind of ties into some consistency I think part of it is his footwork in the Mike McCarthy offense you really have to time up your footwork and your reads and your progressions and where the receivers are at that's not easy to do I think there are still times Lance is a little late on things which happens with a with a young guy I think the pre- snap stuff's actually pretty good I mean you've seen him making checks and barking out signals that was pretty good actually uh at the FCS level too for him but I think the post Snap processing has to get a little bit faster here's what Mike McCarthy said on Trey Lance I thought we improved today starting with Trey third down conversions we missed a couple there but two 14 play drives that's incredible for preseason football it shows you his understanding and his confidence and he just needs to continue to play he needs reps he needs to play in a in live games particularly in the dropback phase because he's doing a very good job managing everything else so I thought he clearly took a step today and that of course was said after the game by the way Monday now but show me where Mike is wrong with that statement you know I I know there's an instant gratification society and we're not patient for players to develop we want I'm all done right now but I do think patience is still needed we've seen progress there's still areas to grow but I think you need to continue to give Tre Lance time which admittedly is complicated because this is the final year of his deal and barring injury you're not going to see him play after this week but one step at a time let's see some growth week three of the preseason 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