Of course fucking of course Howe is going to rush players back from injury, play players who are carrying a slight knock and over play some players when hes had 15 players out injured ffs. Howe is a winner, he wants to win every game, so he isn't going to basically throw three games by playing kids that aren't anywhere near ready so he can ease in players who are technically fit to play.
We've seen how cautious he is with new players when given the choice, of course he would have preffered to have to done that with our injured players this season, but that option simply wasn't available to him this season.