Four minutes, 39 seconds remained in the fourth quarter, and the Ottawa Redblacks trailed the Saskatchewan Roughriders, 30-22.

The Redblacks, on this Oct. 13, 2017 game, faced a third-and-7. But the Canadian Football League grants just three downs. Brett Maher stepped in to punt.

Instead, he pulled back to pass on a trick play and nailed a receiver on an out route for an 8-yard completion and first down.

The Redblacks came back for the 33-32 win to clinch a home playoff berth.

This probably wasn't Maher's biggest moment with the Redblacks. He connected on six field goals to score every point in the franchise's first-ever win, 18-17, in 2014. Maher punted and kicked off, too, also running and throwing on trick plays when called upon. He led CFL passers in 2014 by completing 2 of 2 pass attempts for 63 yards.

So Maher, now the Cowboys' kicker, didn't flinch on the crucial trick play a year ago.

"Sometimes guys shy away from that or are nervous about making a mistake in front of thousands of people," said Redblacks coach Rick Campbell. "He wasn't that attitude at all.

"It was 'Heck yeah, I want to do it.'"

"It was fun," adds Maher, to have a coach "who was willing to roll the dice."

Before he knew it, the Cowboys were rolling, too.

Mental preparation

Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher (2) is pictured during pregame warmups during the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Carolina Panthers NFL football game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday, September 9, 2018. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News) (Louis DeLuca / Staff Photographer)

The Cowboys signed the 28-year-old Nebraska and CFL product in April, seemingly to provide a training-camp body to back up Dan Bailey, the NFL's second most-accurate kicker who had injured his groin in 2017.

Maher had signed as Bailey's backup before, for two weeks in 2013. But this time the lingering effects of Bailey's injury history paired with Maher's impressive training camp made the Cowboys front office think.

To complicate their decision, Maher made a 57-yard field goal in the Cowboys' last preseason game at Houston.

"It felt like another opportunity for me," Maher said. "Another situation I was prepared for.

"It didn't feel like anything special."

After all, Maher had connected on a 58-yard field goal while playing in the CFL.

And kicking in Canada meant battling wind and temperatures so cold Maher took mental reps in ice baths to prepare. Climate-controlled NRG Stadium was no match. A big stage didn't faze Maher, who'd already kicked at Nebraska in college for home crowds averaging more than 85,000.

Heck, as a high schooler, Maher broke Nebraska's state track meet record when he pole-vaulted 16 feet, 2 inches.

And Maher has since honed his mental imagery tactics before, during and after games through work with South Dakota sports psychologist Andy Gillham, who focuses on enabling Maher to find his peak performance.

"When he came knocking on my door," Gillham said by phone, "he was ready. There was no salesman required with Brett. He was for the mental side of sport."

Gillham arranged a series of mental warmups for Maher, routines he follows religiously though he's tweaked them to better reflect NFL conditions than those in the CFL.

The result: Maher missed his first field goal of the season, a 47-yard attempt at Carolina.

But he's since riding a streak of 11 consecutive made field goals, connecting from 37, 29, 50, 35, 32, 43, 22, 38, 27, 43 and 48 yards.

The 38-yard field goal as time expired in Week 4 lifted the Cowboys to a 26-24 win over the Lions.

Maher's wife Jenna was in town from Lincoln, Neb., for the moment so big Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he was "about to swallow my tongue and my eyes were rolled back, so I'm glad I wasn't trying to kick the field goal."

Maher, in contrast, stayed even keeled, expecting to make it. He celebrated by FaceTiming his daughters, 4-year-old Maela and 1-year-old Laekyn, who spent the game in their aunt's playroom in Lincoln.

Neither, Maher says, is old enough to know what dad's CFL-to-NFL transition means any more than they comprehend what it means that mom switched from teaching kindergarten last year to fourth grade this year.

Maher doesn't care.

"It was a normal conversation you'd have with a 4-year-old," he said. "Not too much about what daddy's doing. More about, probably, 'Look at this baby I'm giving a doctor checkup to.'

"They can humble me pretty quick."

Punt, pass and kick?

Dallas Cowboys kicker Brett Maher (2) celebrates with punter Chris Jones (6) after kicking the winning field goal during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Detroit Lions on Sunday, September 30, 2018 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Cowboys won 26-24. (Ashley Landis/The Dallas Morning News) (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

A look at NFL kicking stats -- especially the NFC North in Week 6 -- quickly validate the Cowboys' decision to shed Bailey's $3.4 million salary for Maher's $480,000.

Bailey missed two field goals before connecting on a late 52-yarder to help the Vikings, who signed him in September after their rookie kicker went 0 for 3 in a division game, eke out a 23-21 win over Philadelphia.

Down the road in Detroit, even Aaron Rodgers' 442 passing yards couldn't compensate for kicker Mason Crosby connecting on just 1 of 5 field goal attempts and missing his lone extra-point attempt.

Maher's 11 made field goals this season rank among the top five in the NFL. His 92 percent accuracy rate, marred only by that 47-yard miss in Carolina, ranks 11th.

All of this comes for a player whom Campbell, Maher's Ottawa coach, believes is a better punter than kicker.

"He's very good at all three," Campbell clarified. "But if someone called and asked me before he went down to Dallas, I'd say as a punter."

Maher disputes that.

"If I had to hit a punt or hit a field goal for the same prize," he says, "I'm going to kick a field goal for sure."

Maher remains focused on kicking for now, stacking made attempt upon made attempt to show the Cowboys and the NFL that after five years of training camps and the Canadian game, he has what it takes to succeed in the American counterpart.

He'll forfeit the Canadian style more friendly to trick plays, like his pass vs. Saskatchewan, for the chance to keep kicking for the Cowboys.

Could Maher ever take that pole-vaulting, kicking, punting, throwing, running athleticism to an NFL game to execute a trick play?

"You're asking me to show our hand," Maher said, "and that's not going to happen.

"[But] to say will I ever? I'm hoping I have a long enough career where at some point, that would probably happen."

Twitter: @JoriEpstein