Jaguars defensive tackle Marcus Stroud escaped serious injury after rolling his vehicle while driving home for the holidays, authorities said Monday. Stroud was charged with careless driving, Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Leeper said, following the Saturday night accident. Stroud was driving from Jacksonville to his family home in Barney, Ga., following Saturday's win at Houston when he approached a slow-moving pickup truck towing a trailer on Interstate 10 near Sanderson in Baker County. According to the highway patrol, Stroud tried to swerve to avoid the trailer, but his sport utility vehicle struck it and overturned in the median. Stroud was wearing his seat belt and sustained only minor cuts to his left arm, Leeper said. No one in the other vehicle was injured. Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said he expected Stroud to practice Wednesday and play Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. "I don't have anything to report," Del Rio said. "I understand he was involved in auto accident. From everything I heard, he'll be fine."

For the first time since 1999, the Jacksonville Jaguars are in the playoffs, having earned a wild-card spot in part because of the 3-1 record backup quarterback David Garrard has posted in replacing an injured Byron Leftwich for the past month. But whether it's Garrard who actually leads the Jaguars into the postseason, when they play a wild-card game the weekend of Jan. 7-8, remains to be seen. Suddenly, it seems, the Jaguars and coach Jack Del Rio might have a quarterback quandary. Leftwich ran for the first time on Friday since sustaining a broken left ankle in a Nov. 27 game and reported little discomfort. In fact, Leftwich felt so good that he asked Del Rio if he could play in Saturday's victory over Houston and is hopeful of getting back on the field for the New Year's Day regular-season finale against Tennessee. It has only been about 10 days since Leftwich, who expected to miss at least four weeks and perhaps the rest of the season, discarded his crutches. The normal recovery period for such an injury is usually four to eight weeks.

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."

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich, sidelined since Nov. 27 when he suffered a broken right ankle, will try to resume running Friday as he and team officials take the next step in gauging the status of his recovery. The three-year veteran, who started the first 11 games of the season and registered an 8-3 record, discarded his crutches only a week ago. The normal recovery for such an injury is 4-8 weeks, so even getting Leftwich back for the early playoff rounds is a long shot, but there is some hope in the organization that he can return for the regular season finale. Jacksonville can secure a wild card berth with a victory at Houston on Saturday afternoon with backup quarterback David Garrard, 2-1 since replacing Leftwich, as the starter. The Jaguars conclude the season with a New Year's Day home game against Tennessee.

The NFL schedule for Week #15 includes ten games with serious play-off implications. If a team thinks they are truly play-off worthy, they better finds ways to WIN their final three games. The RealGM.com #1 Colts remain undefeated (13-0) and host the underachieving, but upset-minded, Chargers on Sunday. The #2 ranked Seahawks, the elite team in the NFC, take their offensive show on the road vs. the Titans.

The odds seem to be decreasing that the Jacksonville Jaguars will have starting quarterback Byron Leftwich back in the lineup for the end of the regular season or even for the beginning of the playoffs. Leftwich underwent follow-up X-rays on Wednesday of his broken right ankle, sustained in a victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Nov. 27. The three-year veteran was still on crutches afterward and likely to still be on the sideline for several more weeks. The latest examination revealed no setbacks, but Leftwich continues to experience swelling, and there is no timetable for his return. There is doubt as to whether Leftwich will return this season, unless the Jaguars advance deep into the playoffs. When the injury occurred, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio acknowledged that getting Leftwich back in four weeks would probably be the best-case scenario. There is, though, no real timetable for his return. For the foreseeable future, four-year veteran David Garrard, who is 1-1 since tacking over for Leftwich, remains the starter. "A bone doesn't heal in two weeks," Leftwich told local reporters. "It hurts some days more than others. Sometimes it just wants to ache for no reason. Right now, I'm just trying to get over that hump."

Jacksonville Jaguars running back Fred Taylor will not suit up for Sunday's matchup against Cleveland, meaning he will miss his third game in the last four weeks. Taylor injured his ankle on Nov. 6 against Houston. Since then, he has played just once, against Tennessee. He had six carries for minus-8 yards in that game, sitting out most of the second half with a thigh bruise. "Fred is getting better, it's week to week, but he's not going to make it this week," Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. "We both agreed that it would be best to give it a little more time. We are expecting him back this season." "We're trying to do what's best for the team, to get me as close to 100 percent as possible for our stretch run," Taylor said.