SANTA CLARA – This is the live blog for the 49ers’ Week 2 game against the Seattle Seahawks. I will update it frequently with information and analysis from the press gallery.
The magic number for the 49ers is 25. If Lance throws 25 passes or less, the 49ers will win. If he throws more than 25 passes, they’ll probably lose. Because that would mean the 49ers had fallen behind like last week, and Lance had to lead a comeback.
Lance is not yet built to bring the 49ers back from a deficit. And he’s not supposed to. Before the season, Kyle Shanahan and Nick Bosa said Lance’s job this season is to not make big mistakes because the rest of the team is so elite. He doesn’t have to be the star. He’s a supporting actor.
That means the 49ers defense, which has called itself the best in the NFL all offseason, has to play like it does for 60 minutes today. And if he’s playing up to his standards, the best complement will be a solid running game, which Lance can provide. He doesn’t need to pass many times to win. The fewer passes he attempts, especially in the rain, the better.
The 49ers should treat Lance like the Steelers treated Ben Roethlisberger when he was a freshman starter. That year, the Steelers had big aspirations, which meant there was a lot of pressure on Roethlisberger to win right away. And he won 13 straight starts that season, but only kicked the ball 25+ times in a game once. He was first a game manager. That’s what Lance should be today.
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11:37 Here are the 49ers inactives:
George Kittle
Daniel Brunskill
Brock Purdy
Nick Zakelj
Kemoko Turay
