Right decision on Leftwich

Brady cut his NFL teeth at the expense of Drew Bledsoe. Leftwich, Jacksonville's first-round pick and seventh overall, has done it at the expense of Mark Brunell. Neither franchise seems to regret the decisions.

Leftwich, who threw for 89 touchdowns and 11,903 yards at Marshall, is showing signs he can be a leader. If he can reduce his turnovers and let his athleticism take hold, the Jaguars will be dangerous.

"I think any time you get more opportunities to go out there and play, the more comfortable you get," Leftwich said this week. "I'm getting better every week. I actually think I am getting better every day. Every opportunity I get a chance to go out there and compete against our guys in practice and compete against the teams we play on Sundays, I think I am getting better.

"That's all I'm trying to do. I'm doing all of the little things I have to do to get better. Even if you are a rookie . . . and I don't look at myself that way, I look at myself as a quarterback and as a leader of this football team, I have to go out there and do my part, because they aren't holding anything back because I am a rookie. We are going out there and playing football."

He led a dominating 27-0 win over a depleted Houston team last week. He threw for 194 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown pass to veteran receiver Jimmy Smith.

"I think the first thing is just ball security," said Leftwich of the things he believes he needs to improve upon. "I think in the first few games, I had too many turnovers. I might have taken too many chances. We haven't had any turnovers in the past few weeks. I think when we do that, the odds are in your favor any time you go there and don't have any turnovers. The way our defense is playing . . . man . . . we've got a great chance. So we have just got to go up there and play turnover-free football and see what happens."

He's been sacked only three times in his last five games thanks to an improving offensive line. His quarterback rating continues to improve, and he's thrown only one interception the past three games. Tomorrow he faces one of his toughest tests.

"All the great players that they have [in New England]," Leftwich said. "Those guys, they do a lot of different things. They try to confuse the quarterback. They try to force the quarterback into making bad decisions. So what I have to do is make sure I am prepared. You look at their players, and they have a lot of players that have been around this league for a while that know how to play the game of football. It's going to be a challenge to us, but it is something that we will have a lot of fun with. We'll see what happens [tomorrow]."

He could have sat all season as Carson Palmer has in Cincinnati, but the Jaguars wanted to test their rookie early. They decided to give Leftwich the reins and let him learn on the job. That's the way Leftwich prefers it.

"I always am a guy who thinks the best way to learn is to go through it," Leftwich said. "It is so hard for a guy to learn about a game situation if he's not in the game. At some time, no matter if you play as a rookie or if you play three years down the road, you are going to have those bumps in the road that deal with game-time situations. If you were never in those situations, how can you learn from those situations?"

Scarnecchia lauded

Belichick raved about the work done by offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia, calling him "one of the best coaches I've ever worked with. I feel like I've worked with a lot of good ones, but he's outstanding. He's done an outstanding job with that group. He's a great teacher. A great tactician. He makes very good in-game adjustments. He does an outstanding job with young players and veterans." . . . Belichick also said he would do all he could to promote defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, or any of his coaches to head coaching positions if the opportunities arise . . . Troy Brown received treatment yesterday on his strained right hamstring, and it appears the receiver is a go for tomorrow barring a last-minute setback . . . Don't read anything into the multiple inactives racked up by defensive linemen Anthony Pleasant and Rick Lyle (who was active last week). Belichick said it just comes down to a numbers game, and teams can only activate 45 of their 53 players.