by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
Is Byron Leftwich ready to start in a playoff game?
“One way to find out — go up to New England and see what happens Saturday night,” said the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback after Tuesday’s practice. “Never can tell, but I know this. I didn’t miss anything today (in practice) and I’m playing against our defense, and that’s a top 10 defense.”
The second-guessing has started as Leftwich has been named to start against the Patriots in the 8 p.m. game despite not having played since Nov. 27 due to a broken ankle bone.
“It’s my job,” he said. “I’m healthy, cleared by every doctor, so I’m back at work.”
If he’s worried, he isn’t showing it and seemed to enjoy extra time talking about what’s coming up.
Has the layoff hurt his speed? “I might be a little slow, but I’m slow anyway. I can’t get much slower.”
Does he expect a Patriot blitz because of his injury? “It won’t be because of me; they blitz all the time anyway.”
Has the layoff helped in any way? “Seeing the game from the sidelines was an education. I think it made me a better player, but I was worried the whole time. I worried about letting my teammates down, but then David (Garrard) stepped in and ahhh ... what a relief.”
Is his passing sharp? “I hurt my ankle, not my arm. I still know how to play the game. I haven’t played, but I don’t think I got any dumber.”
The Patriots don’t have any recent film on him. Might that help? “Look, Coach (Bill) Belichick didn’t get those Super Bowl rings by being dumb. He probably has some high school film on me somewhere.”
Is it better that he didn’t play in last week’s game? “It might have been the best thing but I hurt so bad because I wasn’t going to play. You can’t stand there and not play when you think you can. A player just can’t turn it off and on.”
Will he be nervous? “It may be a playoff game but it’s still football. It will be a different type of excitement, a different atmosphere, a road game, maybe snow. But you don’t have to learn a new sport. It’s football, just like we’ve played all year.”
How big will it be? “Big as you want. This is fun, going to play the Super Bowl champs with no one giving us a shot. You have to relish these moments. When I came here three years ago, we were awful. I don’t know how we won five games that year. Now we’ve won 12. We’re big time.”