While Allen said that Carr will return to the starting lineup upon his return and didn’t rule out Haener starting at some point, he said Rattler needn’t concern himself with having a short leash Sunday.

“I think you’ve got to let the guy go in there and play,” Allen said. “We’re not going into this game saying, ‘You make a mistake and we’re going to pull you.’ He’s going in to play. He’s going to start, he’s going to lead the team, and we go from there.

“You don’t want to go into this thing like it’s this major ordeal. He’s the next man up, get an opportunity to go in and play. Go play and have fun, do what you’ve been trained to do.

“I think sometimes you can make too big a deal of it and create more of an issue than you really need to. We’ll go through the things that he needs to know, we’ll get him prepared and then we’ll let him go out there and play.”

Though Rattler had been the emergency quarterback for five games, Allen said Rattler had impressed in practice.

“He goes against us on the ‘show” team every day and he’s got athletic ability, he can throw the ball, he’s accurate, he creates some plays on the scout team,” Allen said. “I just think this is a guy who has a lot of ability and certainly he’s a rookie, so we know that we’re going to have some challenges that go along with that, but I think we’ll have a good plan for him and we’ll be excited about going out and playing.

“He’s done a good job for us on the show team. He’s made some really good plays against our defense. He’s made some awkward throws and his mobility has been good.

“It’s going to be incumbent on us as coaches to put him in the best position to be successful.”