Cowboys asking Trey Lance for intel before game vs. 49ers

The highly-anticipated matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday will be more than just a homecoming for Trey Lance. Cowboys coaches are asking Lance for insight into San Francisco’s offense and defense as they prepare to head to the Bay Area in a matchup of NFC contenders.

Dallas offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer confirmed Monday that the team is going to lean on Lance for some insight, but pointed out that it may not make much of a difference.

“Trey knows a little bit about what they’re doing,” Schottenheimer said. “The team knows them well, I know them well from being in Seattle, Trey knows them well, but like last week, it’s kind of in good fun and humor. We all use pieces that we have in place, but we don’t go too far into it.”

Schottenheimer was referring to last week’s win over the New England Patriots in Dallas, which featured the return of longtime Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, who is now with the Patriots. Whatever insights Elliott was able to provide on the Cowboys to Bill Belichick’s coaching staff seemed to matter little as Dallas won 38-3.

As Schottenheimer alluded to, the Cowboys already have plenty of familiarity with Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers, having been eliminated by San Francisco in the playoffs each of the past two years. Additionally, Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn had Shanahan on his staff as his offensive coordinator when Quinn was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

Plus, the Cowboys have already faced off against a prominent branch of Shanahan’s own coaching tree this season in their Week 2 defeat of the New York Jets, coached by former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.

“We can know exactly what they’re going to do, because they don’t do too much, and they’re still really, really tough to go against because they’re so talented,” Schottenheimer said. “The cool thing with San Francisco is, the play styles never change, no matter who the coordinator is. … It’s a lot like our defensive play style and how we try to play offensively. It’s physical and up-tempo, and they run and they hit, and that’s way more important than the scheme they run.”

Still, the Cowboys will attempt to learn whatever they can from Lance, who went from a highly touted former third overall pick by the 49ers to an oft-injured, expendable backup due to last season’s rise of unheralded rookie Brock Purdy.

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“We’ll definitely talk to Trey,” Schottenheimer said. “He knows a lot of the [defensive] pieces [from] going against them in practice, but it doesn’t always help.”

The 49ers traded Lance to Dallas for a fourth-round pick in August after demoting him to third-string status behind backup Sam Darnold in training camp.