Ron Rivera says Alex Smith will start at quarterback for the Washington Football Team next week.

Smith replaced Kyle Allen, who suffered an ankle injury, in Sunday's loss to the New York Giants.

Allen reportedly dislocated the ankle and suffered a small fracture. Washington will elevate Dwayne Haskins to the backup role.

It will be Smith's first start since Nov. 18, 2018, when he suffered a broken fibula and tibia in his right leg.

"A ton of emotions going on for me right then," Smith said. "I knew Kyle was down and knew it was serious once he stayed down. You get ready to roll and all of a sudden you see them bringing out an air cast and the cart. I know that routine well. I'm trying to lock it in, but feeling for Kyle."

Ron Rivera is pushing back against the idea that Dwayne Haskins is done with the Washington Football Team.

"It's funny, I benched the guy and it's like everybody thinks his career is over here in Washington. It's not. There's potential, there's opportunity. The kid has an NFL arm, it's just a matter of him developing," Rivera said.

Rivera cited that Haskins was only the starter for one year at Ohio State and has started just 11 games in the NFL.

"Everybody forgets he played 12 games of college football and then last year he really didn't get into the swing of things until the end of the year," he said. "I did everything I could to give him 11 weeks as the No. 1 [quarterback]."