FRISCO, Texas -- Imagine the excitement of knowing you could make the first start of your NFL career on Sunday. Imagine it coming for the Dallas Cowboys (2-6). Imagine it coming against the NFL's lone unbeaten team in the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-0).

Now imagine being two days before kickoff and not knowing if you will win the job or if the guy you see in practice every day will get it.

That's what life is like for Garrett Gilbert and Cooper Rush as they bid to be the Cowboys' fourth different starting quarterback in 2020.

Yet both quarterbacks said they are not looking at practice as some sort of duel.

"I think ultimately, I think he understands it, too. He's been in this league long enough -- we're here to win a football game," Gilbert said. "Yeah, we're competing for the starting job, but we're competing to go win a football game for this team. We would both be doing ourselves a disservice by doing that and comparing ourselves to one another, and I think we'd be doing the team a disservice because I think that would be getting in the way of our preparation. ... That's the only thing we can do ... continue to prepare like we're playing on Sunday."

Gilbert said the split of the work has been at the discretion of offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and quarterbacks coach Doug Nussmeier. Rush described it as "random," so the quarterbacks can experience different situations.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said the goal is to have a starter in place for Saturday's practice.

"This won't be a statistical decision. This is really based off of the rhythm and continuity and command," McCarthy said. "We need to make sure we exercise our game plan against the Steelers' defense. ... Obviously, Garrett has a little more experience than Cooper because he's been here. We're just working through all that. My goal is just to make sure both guys are ready for Sunday."

Last week, with Andy Dalton out with a concussion, the Cowboys started rookie Ben DiNucci and he completed 21 of 40 passes for 180 yards in the 23-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. He was sacked four times and lost two fumbles.

Dalton, who replaced Dak Prescott, was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list on Tuesday, opening up the competition between Gilbert and Rush after DiNucci's struggles.

While DiNucci has more NFL game experience than either Gilbert or Rush, McCarthy believes the more time Gilbert and Rush have had around NFL teams in terms of practice and preseason games will be more helpful to the Cowboys' immediate needs.

Gilbert completed 2 of 6 passes for 40 yards in 2018 and 2019 with the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns, respectively. He entered the league in 2014 as a sixth-round pick by the St. Louis Rams. He last started a game in the Alliance of American Football for the Orlando Apollos in 2019.

Gilbert, 29, said he considered joining the coaching staff at SMU, where he finished his college career, before joining the Panthers in 2018.

"It's been quite a journey," Gilbert said. "It's a fine line between saying this is over with and I don't know if I'm going to get another shot. I never lost that belief and I never lost the love for it and wanting to be out here, wanting to be playing."

Rush's last start came in the 2018 preseason finale for the Cowboys against the Houston Texans. While he was cut by the Cowboys in May after the signing of Dalton, he said much of the offense remains familiar from his time with Dallas from 2017 to 2019.

"It's been a blast getting back into it, getting back out there again, throwing against a live defense, flying around, guys all around you in the pocket, stuff like that," Rush said. "I mean at the end, you're preparing for the same goal; you're helping each other out. It's your job as a QB. We're all on the same team. Just trying to get yourself ready for the game helps everyone, helps the whole team."

Not only is Rush, 26, familiar with the Cowboys' scheme, he is also familiar with the personnel, having thrown passes to Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard and Dalton Schultz.

"That was one thing I was really happy about, throwing routes on air and things like that, timing type things, the last few days really came back a lot faster than I expected," Rush said. "Having thrown to those guys for years before really helped. It comes right back."

Rush has three pass attempts in his career, all in the 2017 season, after spending three seasons as Prescott's backup.

If Rush is McCarthy's choice, he would be the first non-rookie Cowboys quarterback to make his first start with fewer than six pass attempts in his career. If Gilbert gets the start, he would match Reggie Collier (1986) and Drew Henson (2004) in fewest pass attempts (six) among non-rookie quarterbacks making their first starts. Former quarterback Anthony Wright had eight attempts before his first start with the Cowboys in 2000.

As Gilbert and Rush wait to see who wins the competition, the goal for the rest of the offense is to make either feel comfortable Sunday.

"Anytime you have different guys playing at that position, it's tough," Cowboys Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin said. "But what we can do offensively is make whoever is in there feel as comfortable as possible, try to take the weight of the world off their shoulders. So, we're focused on getting whoever is going to be in there ready to go and us going out there and executing."