IRVING, Texas -- When the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, defensive end DeMarcus Ware will be there.
"I'll play this week," Ware said Tuesday after handing out pre-Thanksgiving Day meals at the Salvation Army's Carr P. Collins Social Service Center in Dallas.
During the Cowboys' blowout loss Nov. 10 to the New Orleans Saints, Ware aggravated a quadriceps strain that had kept him out of three games. He said he would not have been able to play last week if the Cowboys had a game instead of a bye.
"I'm feeling a lot better," Ware said. "I tested it [Monday] in practice, it felt pretty good. Then this week I'll just do all the drills, make sure I get all my keys, and get ready for this week."
Ware said he will practice some on Wednesday in pads, which would be more than he did leading up to the New Orleans game. He said if he can make it through the Giants game unscathed, the injury will not be factor for the rest of the season.
"Right now the rest of my body feels like I'm just going into training camp," Ware said. "My leg feels like I just went through training camp. Now it's just getting it to the point where it's very functional. I know right now, the way my body feels, it feels great, feels strong, feels fast. Now it's just get over the hump of these little injuries and moving forward."
Ware has five sacks in the seven games he has played this season. A stinger and a back strain limited his playing time earlier in the season before he suffered the quad strain Oct. 13 against the Washington Redskins.
The last time Ware had so few sacks at this point in a season was 2005, his rookie year, when he had four in the first 14 games before getting four in the last two.
"The thing is I look at it like, OK, it's sort of going to push me to play even better than I have been playing because it's like you've been behind," Ware said. "Sometimes when you're behind, you have something to really look forward to. Just getting out there and playing, knowing what I can do and being effective for a whole game or the rest of the season, I know I'll need to be where I need to be."