After a dismal season that may end in the drafting of the NCAA?s most coveted prize, Reggie Bush, the Houston Texans must now decide the fate of their even more dismal quarterback, David Carr. If they conclude Carr is the man to lead them for another three seasons, $8 million must soon pass from owner Bob McNair's coffers to his. With the No. 1 pick in the draft, the Texans called his name. Now some Texans fans are calling him names. One of the printable ones is "mistake." Was he? That's the $8 million question confronting McNair. After four years, Carr's statistics measure favorably with numbers posted by most of the other quarterbacks who were drafted at the top of their classes. And, of late, he has played some of his best football, calling a nearly perfect first half in a Dec. 18 victory over Arizona and then firing touchdown strikes of 53 and 50 yards in Saturday's 38-20 loss to playoff-bound Jacksonville.

The Jacksonville Jaguars clinched its first playoff birth since 1999 with at 38-20 comeback win over the Houston Texans. With the loss, the Texans move to 2-13, making them a near lock to land USC?s Reggie Bush in the first round of next years draft. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy," said Jacksonville receiver Jimmy Smith. "But we've become a second-half team this year. I don't necessarily like it that way -- we don't like to have to come back. But we have matured enough to be poised and do whatever we have to do to come away with a win."

In an effort to bring another perspective to the ongoing evaluation of his team over the final month of the season, and to perhaps lend insights into the direction for the future, Houston owner Bob McNair has hired former NFL coach Dan Reeves as a special consultant. Dan Reeves is joining the Texans as a consultant, two years after being fired as the Falcons' head coach.There had been whispers over the past week that McNair, whose franchise owns the NFL's worst record at 1-12, might seek input from an independent party. McNair made it clear that Reeves was not interviewing to be coach of the Texans, nor was he brought in to critique coach Dom Capers or general manager Charley Casserly.

Safety Marcus Coleman was told to stay home and miss Sunday's game against the Ravens after missing a walkthrough on Saturday morning, the Houston Chronicle reported. "Marcus wasn't here because he was disciplined for not filling his team obligations," Capers told the paper after the 16-15 loss to the Ravens. It was the second time in three seasons that Coleman was forced to miss a game after violating team rules. In 2003, Coleman and outside linebacker Antwan Peek were ordered to miss the Buffalo game for violating team rules.