With Justin Herbert on the sidelines for the Chargers’ first game of the preseason, it was the Trey Lance and DJ Uiagalelei show.
Lance started things off for the Chargers in their preseason opener against the Texans. The former No. 3 overall pick played for the first three quarters, leading the offense through six drives before checking out.
Uiagalelei then took over the reins, playing exclusively in the fourth quarter. He completed six of nine passes for 120 yards, including a three-yard touchdown pass for Devonte Ross with 10 minutes left in the contest.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh loved what he saw from both his signal callers.
“Trey Lance, thought he played really well, thought DJ played really well,” Harbaugh said. “Both of those guys operating drives, a lot of first downs… it was good to look at moving the football.”
While Lance and Uiagalelei led the offenses to scoring drives, this first battle may have gone to Uiagalelei. It’s fair to say that Uiagalelei outplayed Lance, as he handled short-to-intermediate routes cleaner and used his legs to extend plays.
While Lance wasn’t terrible, he made some costly mistakes, including an interception right before halftime. On top of that, he barely survived other near-interceptions dropped by Texans defenders.
Overall, Uiagalelei looked smoother under center and running the offense as a whole. It’ll be interesting to see how Harbaugh decides to split the time moving forward.
“Can you move the football team, can you the team in 11-on-11 and pick up first downs, end the drives with field goals or touchdowns? More times than not, those points were [there],” Harbaugh said. “Things to get better on, yeah.
“You got to give the quarterback a lot of credit for that,” Harbaugh added. “It’s really encouraging the way both quarterbacks acquitted themselves in this game.”
Lance is currently the QB2 in the Chargers’ unofficial depth chart. If Uiagalelei can continue to shine and outperform his counterpart, Harbaugh may elevate the former undrafted quarterback to second string.
This article originally appeared on Chargers Wire: Where the Chargers’ QB2 battle stands after preseason opener
Reporting by Ricardo Sandoval , Chargers Wire / Chargers Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ricardo Sandoval , Chargers Wire | USA TODAY Network
