Jared Allen should be getting ready for just the second NFC Championship of his 12-year career. Instead, the Carolina Panthers' defensive end is fighting steep odds.

As coach Ron Rivera predicted Monday, Allen wasn't on the field Wednesday as the Panthers started getting ready for Arizona and the NFC Championship.

Despite breaking a bone in his foot during the fourth quarter of the divisional round win over Seattle, Allen remained in for the Seahawks' final two series. A day later, coach Ron Rivera admitted Allen's status for the Cardinals was "doubtful."

But this is a guy who's missed just three games due to injury in his career, so it's not surprising Allen's battling to play with just one win standing in the way of his first trip to the Super Bowl. 

"He's trying to do everything he can to get ready," Rivera said.

"But I don't want him coming in thinking he's going to play no matter what. At the same time, I've got a group of guys I've got to get ready to play with or without him. I don't want to give any false indications either way because I want these guys focused in on preparing for themselves."

If Allen can't go, Kony Ealy will likely slide into the starting lineup with Mario Addison seeing an uptick in snaps. But after that, the Panthers have a couple of interesting options.

They could place Allen on injured reserve, promote Wes Horton from the practice squad and make him and/or Ryan Delaire active against Arizona.

Or they could make a compromise with Allen: Sit this one out, stay on the 53-man roster, and if the Panthers win, take two weeks to try to make it back for the Super Bowl.

The one option that won't work for the Panthers is allowing a guy to tough it out with the deck stacked against him.

"The worst thing you want to do is put a guy out there and all of a sudden on the very first play he gets hurt again," Rivera said. "Now you're down to three rush ends. Now what do you do?

"So I have got to be convinced. I've got to be for sure. At the same time, I know he's trying to get back and get himself ready to go."

And therein lies a challenge head coaches often face. Throw a veteran a bone because of his body of work, or sit him down, even if he believes he could play.

"There's a lot of things to take into consideration. It's not just, 'Oh, I feel good,'" Rivera said.

"It's about the whole 60 minutes you've got to play, not that first minute on the field and all of a sudden something crazy happens."