ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Matthew Stafford might start Sunday against New Orleans. He might not, if his hamstring and ankle injuries don’t come along as the Detroit Lions hope. Either way, Jake Rudock will be ready.

Rudock, the team’s backup quarterback, has never taken a regular season NFL snap. He hasn’t taken a snap in a game that counted toward the standings since 2015, when he was the quarterback at Michigan under then-first-year coach Jim Harbaugh.

But none of this is changing what he’s doing. At least not yet.

“Right now, just got to start preparing like you always do,” Rudock told ESPN on Monday. “The closest thing I can compare it to is in college. Same thing happens, so a guy gets banged up. It’s, hey, prepare as you always do and be ready whenever anything could occur.”

A source told ESPN Insider Dan Graziano on Monday that the Lions would see how much Stafford can do during the week in practice in an effort to play Sunday. On his weekly radio spot on WJR in Detroit on Monday, Stafford said “I don’t know” when asked if he would play against the Saints.

Stafford has been sacked 18 times this season, including 12 in the past two weeks. Only Carson Palmer and Aaron Rodgers, with 19 sacks taken, have been brought down more this season. And some of the hits Stafford has taken have been hard ones. Yet each time, he’s gotten back up.

None of this -- at least the being ready part -- is new for the 24-year-old Rudock. Every time he sees Stafford get hit, he mentally begins to prepare himself in case he’s forced into playing. As the only other quarterback on the roster, the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Florida native would be the obvious replacement.

“There’s been times I’ve seen him take a big hit and he’s slow to get up, so you never know,” Rudock said. “It’s Matthew. He’s tough as nails. So, always be ready, but understand he’s going to play as much as he can.

“That’s just in his blood.”

It’s also Rudock’s approach to this week. Be ready. But understand, Stafford is one of the tougher quarterbacks out there, so he’d really have to be unable to play if he’s not out on the field. Stafford hasn’t missed a game since the 2010 season when he had a right shoulder separation that knocked him out for the last half of the year. He has played through injury before, too. He played four-plus games last season with an injured middle finger on his throwing hand. In 2015, he played with a chest injury.

So Rudock will prepare as if he’s going to play. It’s what he always does, even though he hasn’t taken a snap since the preseason, when he completed 37 of 56 passes for 380 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

He might play. He might not. But for the first time in his pro career, there’s a chance of it.

“I feel like I would be prepared,” Rudock said. “I think our coaches do such a good job of getting everybody in this locker room ready. If stuff happens, it’s part of my job, right, to be ready.

“So take it when it comes and just prepare like you always do.”