Cowboys Nation's disagreement on Trey Lance's performance stems from simple misunderstanding

The biggest storyline out of the Dallas Cowboys' preseason opener was always going to be Trey Lance's performance in his debut in the silver and navy.

Since the Cowboys traded for the former No. 3 overall pick last year, fans and media have been trying to figure out where the kid Kyle Shanahan risked it all for only to send him away for a fourth round draft pick stood in his NFL career.

The reactions from a performance with ups and downs that resulted in 188 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions couldn't be any more fitting for the Cowboys quarterback: They're everywhere, with some fans defending his play while others being just about over with the experiment.

The two sides of the argument appear to land somewhere along the lines of:

• A) He struggled again, this is who Trey Lance is. It's Year 4 of his career and the progress isn't there.
• or B) Lance has barely gotten what he needs the most: Reps. And although he didn't play a great game, there's no need to panic as he's bound to get better.

The reality is the truth is somewhere in between the two above ways of looking at things and I believe the reason why there's a big disagreement in how Cowboys Nation feels about Lance as a fanbase is a simple misunderstanding. Let's break it down.

Yes, it's true, Trey Lance has barely played football

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has said since the team acquired Lance last year that the young quarterback needs time and reps. That didn't change after the team's first of three preseason games, even affecting the play-calling from the coach himself.

"These are things that we need to work on, I probably went with more dropbacks than I may normally in that type of game," McCarthy t old reporters when asked about Lance's accuracy. "I'm I'm I'm trying to get as much as I can with him, we want to see him run the offense at a high level and the footwork and some of the things we're asking him to do conceptually, they're new. We just need we need work ,we just need as much time as we can, I know I say that every time I talk about him but he's making good progress, he's definitely wired the right way, he's great a great athlete. We just have a lot of work to do."

When evaluating Lance, the things he could be doing better all correlate to playing time: Being in rhythm with the offense, throwing with anticipation, seeing the field well, and developing a calmer presence in the pocket.

So naturally, those defending or at least asking for more time for Lance have a good point: This is somebody who played little in college and has thrown very few passes at the NFL level as well. At 24 years old, the same as this year's first-round draft picks Bo Nix and Michael Penix, Lance still has time to develop.

And yet... he's in an awkward spot right now

While there are reasons to be patient with Lance, it still doesn't mean he isn't in a complicated spot going into his fourth regular season in the NFL: He really is.

Lance is about to enter a contract year and he essentially has two preseason games to change the direction of the in-house battle between he and Cooper Rush to be the direct backup to Dak Prescott. Right now, it's Rush's job and that's unlikely to change unless Lance wows the coaching staff before the regular season starts.

Otherwise, Lance will have lost QB2 battels against Sam Darnold and Cooper Rush in back-to-back years. In 2025, he'll be approaching free agency with little tape to work with and potentially looking at yet another scheme change.

At this point, he's unlikely to get what he needs the most: Reps.

And even in a desperate-for-quarterbacks league like the NFL, chances are he won't be brought in by a franchise to compete for the starting role with so many unknowns surrounding his so-far strange career. So whoever bets on him will have to... give him reps in the preseason and camp. And on and on we go. If he fully develops into a starting-caliber QB, it'll likely be after a long and slow process.

It was far from a terrible preseason game from Lance. But his stock can still be down as it wasn't the game he needed. He'll get two more chances to put up solid film this preseason and with some key mistakes out of the way, hopefully he breaks out against the Las Vegas Raiders next Saturday night.

Related: Cowboys' odd decision from preseason opener felt a bit disrespectful to best RB on the team