Bill O’Brien laughs off notion that Patriots are ‘interrogating’ Will Grier for info on Cowboys’ offense

Patriots

“I don’t think we’re trying to pull a light over anybody and say, ‘Tell me what you did on July 20 of 2023.’”

Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and the rest of his staff have a tall task ahead of them entering Sunday’s game against the Patriots.

Not only does the Patriots’ defense offer up its fair share of challenges, but the Cowboys’ coaching staff is also in the process of changing up the team’s hand signals and calls before Sunday’s Week 4 showdown.

Why is that?

Because the Patriots might have the inside intel on the Cowboys’ offensive schemes, especially with a pair of former Dallas players in Ezekiel Elliott and Will Grier on their roster.

“We’re always aware of it,” Schottenheimer told reporters Tuesday of the Patriots leaning on Elliott and Grier for insight. “Those are things we monitor every week. But we know Will knows where a lot of the bones are buried. Zeke does as well. 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.”

Currently the third-string QB on the depth chart, Grier likely won’t figure into New England’s gameplan out on the gridiron on Sunday at AT&T Stadium. 

But Grier spent two full seasons in Dallas’ system, and was only a late cut from the Cowboys roster in August after the team acquired QB Trey Lance from the 49ers.

Along with potentially being utilized as a scout-team QB during practices this week, Grier should have plenty of info on the Cowboys’ offensive schemes.

“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’ and we’re smart enough to adjust those things,” Schottenheimer said. “Everybody does it, 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.

“Excited to see Will, it’ll be great to see him, but I’m sure he is definitely being interrogated and spending a lot of late nights with their defensive coaching staff.”

Speaking with the media later that morning, Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien got a kick out of Schottenheimer’s comment regarding New England’s extensive conversations with Grier.

“Interrogating!” O’Brien said. “Schotty is a good guy. I’ve known Schotty for a long time. I think that’s the way it is every week in this league, every year in this league. … I don’t think we’re trying to pull a light over anybody and say, ‘Tell me what you did on July 20 of 2023.’ We’re not doing that. We’re not interrogating anybody. We’re just trying to put together the best game plan we possibly can.”

Even though the Patriots will utilize whatever information that both Grier and Elliott have mined over their years in Dallas, O’Brien stressed that the true determinant in Sunday’s game will come down to the execution and play out on the field.

“There’s going to be guys that come into your organization off of teams that you’re about to play, and it goes both ways,” O’Brien said. “You know, it’s always going to happen. So at the end of the day, you’ve got to study film.

“Everybody’s going to be on the same page with what we’re doing. I’ve never thought in my years in the league that any of that was a real overriding factor in a win or a loss. It comes down to the players on the field and the coaches putting the players in the right positions to make plays, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”