IRVING, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys believed all along Drew Brees would be the New Orleans Saints quarterback when the teams play Sunday, so that news Friday afternoon was not too surprising.

"He’s a Hall of Fame type guy. We’ve played him before. He’s an unbelievable quarterback and an unbelievable challenge," linebacker Sean Lee said. "We knew with a guy like that he’s fought through injuries before so we knew he probably would play."

Brees did not play last week because of an injured shoulder, but did enough in practice to convince coach Sean Payton he would be ready to start Sunday. In six games against the Cowboys with the Saints, he has five 300-yard passing games and in the other start he threw for 298 yards. He has 16 touchdowns and three interceptions in those six games with a 4-2 record.

During the week Dallas coach Jason Garrett said the defense prepares for the system, not necessarily the quarterback -- despite the differences in Brees and backup Luke McCown.

"They have a system that they believe in and they run it," Garrett said. "If you watch the Carolina game last week, McCown does a really good job running their system of football. Obviously Drew has a great feel for this system, has run it at a high level for a long time. But it’s a system they believe in, they run it. They run it very effectively."

Brees was sacked six times in the first two games, but the Cowboys pass rush has just three sacks in the first three games.

"For us as a defensive line, we just keep it simple," Tyrone Crawford said. "We just play our ball. We go out there and focus on us and do what we do, read our keys and everything should work out."

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