The Cowboys are planning to make some significant changes to their offense ahead of their Week 4 meeting with the Patriots.
It isn't because Dallas is panicking after suffering a 28-16 defeat at the hands of the Cardinals. It's because the Cowboys are worried that the Patriots might have some inside knowledge of their offensive game plan.
Why would that be the case? As Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer explained, the Patriots have added a couple of long-time Cowboys — quarterback Will Grier and running back Ezekiel Elliott — to their roster in recent weeks.
"We know Will knows where a lot of the bones are buried. Zeke does as well," Schottenheimer said when discussing the team's decision to change up their hand signals. "So those are things you talk about and you think, OK, let’s adjust this. We certainly have more than one hand signal for most of our core concepts."
NFL POWER RANKINGS: Bills, Dolphins challenge Chiefs, 49ers among league's best teams
Among the two, Schottenheimer seemed more concerned about the knowledge New England could extra from Grier.
"I’m sure he is definitely being interrogated and spending a lot of late nights with their defensive coaching staff," Schottenheimer said of Grier.
While Elliott was with the Cowboys longer, Grier actually spent time with the team during the 2023 offseason. As such, he has more knowledge of how Schottenheimer — who replaced offensive coordinator Kellen Moore in January — operates.
Grier also had some longevity in Dallas, being on its roster throughout the 2021 and 2022 NFL seasons. He only joined the Patriots on Sept. 22 after a month-long stint with the Bengals.
The Patriots are in need of a consistent backup quarterback behind Mac Jones, so the signing of Grier was a sensible one. With that said, it's safe to assume that the information Grier is carrying about Dallas' play-calling, hand signals and general tendencies was part of what made him more attractive to Bill Belichick and Co.
And that's why the Cowboys are being proactive and are making some small but important changes to their offense this week.
NFL WEEK 4 PICKS: Against the spread | Straight up
Dallas isn't complaining about New England's move. The Cowboys know that this is a common practice across the NFL, as Schottenheimer explained.
"Everybody does it," he said. "You get a player that’s been somewhere, you talk to him about different things, and then you’re very selective about how much you put into it."
Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien intimated the same thing while pushing back on Schottenheimer's assertion that the team was probably "interrogating" Grier."
"I think that's the way it is every year in this league... It goes both ways." O'Brien said. "I've never thought my years in the league, any of that was an overriding factor in a win or a loss."
Whether Grier and Elliott's knowledge of the Cowboys causes Dallas issues against the Patriots, the team is treating it as a potential obstacle.
Even so, Schottenheimer believes that Dallas has a way to make this arrangement advantageous.
“You can use it to your advantage because they think they know what’s coming and they hear something and they think, ‘It’s this,’" he said. "And we’re smart enough to adjust those things."
