2019 will be a season full of firsts for Kellen Moore, the Cowboys’ new offensive coordinator. But before the 29-year-old (who will turn 30 in July) ever gets a chance to orchestrate a game-winning, two-minute drive in the unfriendly confines of an opponent’s roaring stadium, there will be more than a few smaller details along the way that Moore will first need to master. Like how to work the communications system inside quarterback Dak Prescott’s helmet.

“There’s a timing aspect of it,” Moore says, according to ESPN’s Todd Archer. “It cuts off at 15 [seconds left on the play clock], but it doesn’t open up right away right after the snap, so you’ve got to get used to the timing. The whistle blows and you’ve got to wait that second before it lets you back in. If you’re too quick, you’re going to be sitting there like you’re talking and Dak’s not hearing anything. Fortunately, Dak and I, we kind of understand each other. He knows if he’s not heard anything for a few seconds, he’ll peek back and [say], ‘I’ve got nothing going on,’ so we can work it out.”

Moore is considered a quick learner; picking up the intricacies of the green-dot mic system has been no exception. The first time he ever wore the headset and radioed plays in? January’s Pro Bowl.

“We figured it out the day of,” Moore admitted. “Good test run.”

Test runs are a big thing with Moore’s boss, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett. Garrett got plenty of them during his own career, first as a backup quarterback relaying plays to Troy Aikman, and then signalling them in as a coach on Nick Saban’s staff with the Miami Dolphins.

Practicing play calls, something Garrett did often as a player and again as the Cowboys’ playcaller from 2007 through 2012, is something he continues to preach to his quarterbacks.

“You’re always thinking about it, and then I just think it’s important to articulate it,” Archer quotes Garrett as saying. “It’s simple to say it out loud. You’re going to do it a lot. You don’t want to make mistakes. You don’t want to hesitate. You want to rehearse it. I always felt like when I was playing or when I was coaching, saying it out loud helped me understand it better, and it helped me be better at it when the game started.”

While Moore never called plays, either as a backup in Detroit or during his college career at Boise State, he’s already becoming a voice that his quarterback is used to having in his head on the field. He’s bringing exactly the things that Prescott wants to hear.

“Just a sense of calmness and confidence, honestly,” Prescott said. “I get that from Kellen. I’ve gotten that from him for the last few years. You got it from when he was playing the game to back to my rookie year… But now to have him as a coach, you know when he’s calling plays, he believes in it. He’s very convicted about it. And you can feel it.”