Remember a few weeks ago when Wink Martindale, the Giants’ defensive coordinator, was ruminating about the job Cooper Rush was doing filling in for Cowboys starting quarterback Dak Prescott? Martindale praised Rush for what he was doing on the field but also for his football IQ and where it might lead him one day.

“I think he’ll have a long career as a quarterback in this league, and then he’ll be one of those cats that becomes an offensive coordinator and a head coach by the time he’s 38 or 39,’’ Martindale said. “That’s how it usually works.’’

The comments came with more than a tinge of sarcasm from Martindale, who, at 58 years old, has yet to become an NFL head coach — a job he has made clear he covets. Through five games, he has the Giants’ defense playing at a high level and has navigated through a bunch of injuries at key spots. If this keeps up, perhaps Martindale, whom the Giants interviewed in 2020 before hiring Joe Judge, gets back on the NFL head coach candidate circuit.

To his point, though, there is someone younger on Brian Daboll’s staff who fits Martindale’s Cooper Rush projection. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka is 35 years old and, if the Giants continue to find ways to score and move the ball in innovative fashion, he could be “one of those cats’’ Martindale was talking about.