METAIRIE, La. -- The New Orleans Saints are 1-3. But they’re a perfect 1-0 with their full defense intact after safety Jairus Byrd, cornerback Keenan Lewis and linebacker Dannell Ellerbe returned from injuries Sunday night.

It wasn’t a direct cause and effect. All three played limited roles -- mostly in nickel and dime packages. And none made any game-changing plays in the Saints’ 26-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

But they all appeared to play solid. According to Pro Football Focus, neither Byrd nor Lewis was ever targeted in primary coverage, which is the good kind of quiet performance.

Lewis appeared to battling an unspecified leg injury during the game, as he was attended to by trainers and went into the locker room at one point. It’s unclear if it was related to the hip injury that had sidelined him for the past month. Lewis was able to finish the game, though, and played a total of 18 snaps.

Lewis appeared to be used as the Saints’ dime back since nickel cornerback Damian Swann played 35 snaps.

With all of those DBs available, the Saints often matched up physical corner Brandon Browner against Cowboys tight end Jason Witten in those dime packages. Witten had a fairly quiet night with four catches for 57 yards.

Ellerbe played 19 snaps with one tackle.

Byrd played the most snaps of any of the Saints’ returning veterans, which was surprising since he had missed almost an entire year with a knee injury. Byrd played 37 snaps and had four tackles, and Saints coach Sean Payton singled him out when talking about the returning vets.

“It was good to obviously get all of those guys back into a role,” Payton said. “I’d say from a snap-count standpoint they played pretty much what we had hoped for.

“I think much like we went through with C.J. (Spiller returning from injury) here a few weeks back, the initial challenge is just getting back into that playing shape. All of those guys did some good things. I thought Jairus did some real good things. ... It’ll be good to build off of that.”