FRISCO, Texas -- The conversation was maybe a couple of minutes but meaningful.
Two days before the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Giants on Thanksgiving, Cooper Rush and Brandin Cooks discussed the subtleties of a route that would end up clinching the Cowboys' win.
As the Cowboys entered the drive with a 7-point lead and 2:18 to play, coach Mike McCarthy knew he would go to the play if they faced a third-and-short situation. Sure enough, coming out of the two-minute warning, the Cowboys stared at third-and-2 form their 35.
Nobody would give away the secrets of what Rush and Cooks talked about, but they did connect for 3 yards and a first down that allowed Dallas to run out the clock.
"Coop wanted to make sure, 'OK, hey, if this happens are you thinking this?'" said offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who was listening to the two talk on the practice field. "And Brandin was like, 'I am thinking this and here's how you will know it.' Just one of the cooler things I'll remember for a big play in the game that kind of put the game away."
The discussion and the result speak to the comfort Rush is feeling as he enters his fifth game this season as the Cowboys' starting quarterback Monday against the Cincinnati Bengals (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC), filling in for an injured Dak Prescott.
When Prescott was the quarterback, Rush was taking mental notes and listening to Prescott talk to the receivers about what he wanted and what they liked. After four games and about a dozen practices and walk-throughs, Rush is in position to have the conversations.
"There's a rhythm to being a starter throughout the week, and then obviously out there on game day," Rush said. "I wouldn't say, 'knock the rust off,' but there's a comfort level of getting back out there for sure. It's human nature. It's natural. You can prepare all you want, but game reps are game reps."
CeeDee Lamb said Rush's "confidence, decision-making, and just being poised," have improved since taking over. He regularly talks to the receivers, and if he needs more messaging, Lamb will go to the group as well.
"Coop is doing a great job of keeping the cart moving," Lamb said.
While preparation as a backup can be the same as the starter, there are differences. The backup does not have much of a voice in the game plan, but now that he is the starter, Rush is speaking up.
"There's certain things that maybe he likes differently than what Dak likes and so, OK, that maybe moves up or that moves back based on those conversations," Schottenheimer said. "And the more we go, the more comfortable I would say he is of speaking his mind and saying, 'Hey, let's maybe move this into a different situation, 'I like it, I don't love it.'"
In Rush's first six starts of his career in 2021 and 2022, Kellen Moore was his playcaller. Now it's McCarthy. While there is a feel for what McCarthy likes as a playcaller, there is nothing like on-field experience in a regular season.
McCarthy and Rush hold the same Thursday evening meetings that the coach and Prescott held to go over the game plan.
"I think the importance of the meeting is just show the confidence and the connection that you do have with the playcaller and the quarterback," McCarthy said. "And then I do want his input because I learned back in 2000, my first year as a playcaller, you love plays.
"There's things you watch all week, can't wait to call them and you're sitting there on a Monday morning and the quarterback says to you, he says, 'You know, I really just wasn't quite feeling that all week. Maybe I could've probably used a couple more reps.' I always thought that was an indictment on me as a playcaller."
And that brings up the game-clinching play against the Giants.
During the week, Rush and McCarthy knew that play would be a key part to their third-and-short calls. Then came the practice discussion with Cooks about the nuances the receiver would do to put the defensive back in a bind as the tight end pushed vertically to clear out more space.
When the play was called, Rush knew he would go to Cooks. There's a slight hitch, waiting for Cooks to clear that extra room. The throw was placed outside, away from the defender in a spot only Cooks could catch it.
The Cowboys had the first down and the win.
The process worked.
"Brandin always says something in walk-throughs and stuff, and you make a mistake or there's questions, he always says, 'This is why we do it,'" Rush said. "That's why you're here all week, that's why you're working. We ran it a couple of times in practice, and he made one move one day I wasn't ready for, really, and we talked about timing. That's just being pros. And that guy's done it everywhere he's been, and you see why he's still around doing it at a high level."