Mike Holmgren questioned the San Francisco 49ers’ usage of Trey Lance in light of the quarterback suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 2.
During Tuesday’s radio appearance on 95.7 The Game (h/t NBC Sports), the former NFL coach criticized the 49ers for utilizing designed runs.
“I would not have chosen to have runs with him,” Holmgren said. “He’s going to make it happen naturally. You always run the risk of that guy getting banged up, and then the worst thing could possibly happen.”
Holmgren, San Francisco’s offensive coordinator from 1989-91, recalled Steve Young preferring ad-libbed runs.
“Steve would come to me in the quarterback room and say, ‘Mike, you know when you call a run for me, all it is is 12 guys meeting close to you on the sideline. I run over there, they know it’s a run, we’re all there, then we all go back to regular football.’ It was better when he improvised.”
Lance suffered the injury when running up the middle during the first quarter of Week 2’s win over the Seattle Seahawks. When asked if he regretted Lance running between the tackles, head coach Kyle Shanahan called it a “pretty normal play” that other teams deploy.
“Anytime a guy gets hurt I wish I didn’t call that,” Shanahan said, per Kirk Larrabee of 49ers Web Zone. “But, no, that’s something we were going to do and something we would continue to do. That’s a football play we believe in and something that gives him a chance to be real successful in this league.”
Holmgren said he “felt so bad” seeing Lance get injured before reiterating that he “would not have done that” if calling the plays for San Francisco.