Imagine this: You just pulled up to a stoplight when you look out the window to your left. The first thing you notice is a red-haired young man in his 20s, yelling inside his car and waving his hands animatedly. Well, that’s Jason Garrett for you in the 90s. As a third-string quarterback behind Troy Aikman and Hugh Millen, who never got first-team reps, that ride to the training facility and back was his only chance to get some “real” practice in.

“The starters get the reps,” the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback said on The Dan Patrick Show. “You get the scout team stuff. Maybe you get a little something. Different coaches will give you 10 plays on Friday, or they’ll give you two plays at the end of a 20-play set or whatever. But I learned early on.

“I would complain to myself, ‘How am I supposed to play well. I never get any reps’. And then you realize that if you can’t function in this environment, they’re going to find someone who can. So, you better develop a relief pitcher mentality and you better figure out how to do it. And so the way I did it was, you spend so much time watching film, so much time knowing the plan inside out. I would drive around when I’d be driving home. I’d turn the radio off, and I’d call plays out loud. Literally, you do everything you can to create reps for yourself, to get yourself ready to go.”

Safe to say, his tactics worked…

In the end, all that shouting and weird stares were worth it

In seven seasons with the team, Garrett logged a 6-3 record, completing 165-of-294 passes for 2,042 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. His most notable performance came in 1994 on Thanksgiving, a game that is still talked about to this day.

With a QB room where Aikman was down with a sprained knee and backup Rodney Peete’s sore right thumb prevented him from gripping the football, the redhead pulled off a comeback 42-31 win vs Brett Favre.

Despite the Green Bay Packers establishing a comfortable 17-6 lead by halftime, Garrett was not one to give up. In the third quarter, the young QB threw a 45-yard touchdown pass to Alvin Harper, settling the scoreline at 24-19. Then, during the fourth quarter, Garrett threw another 35-yard pass to wide receiver Michael Irvin, leading the game 39-24. In the end, Chris Boniol sealed off the victory with a field goal.

Of course, the win pushed the quarterback toward hero status overnight. What made it even sweeter was, he was a third-string quarterback who’d just managed to out-duel the mighty Favre. Still, no matter how steady he was, Aikman was the face.

While Aikman continued as the starter until his retirement in 2001, Garrett moved on after the 1999 season, joining the New York Giants. He later had brief stints with the Buccaneers and Dolphins before retiring as a player.

Yet, his time with the Cowboys didn’t end there. After hanging up his cleats, he returned as a coach. He had an 85-67 record, a 2-3 postseason run, and was named AP Coach of the Year in 2016.