Leftwich Could Be Back This Season

Jacksonville Jaguar quarterback Byron Leftwich will not have surgery to repair his broken left ankle.

Coach Jack Del Rio said Monday that Leftwich, injured Sunday on the Jaguars’ first offensive play in a 24-17 win over Arizona, will not be put on injured reserve.

Asked about Leftwich’s return, Del Rio said a month “is the most conservative outlook that I can give. It could be more, I doubt it could be less.”

The injury leaves the quarterback duties to David Garrard.

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Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Donovan McNabb had season-ending surgery for a sports hernia.

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The Seattle Seahawks received rare word from the NFL that referee Larry Nemmers erred Sunday on the New York Giants’ two touchdowns in Seattle’s 24-21 overtime victory.

“I had a conversation with the league, and there were mistakes that were made, which we felt at the time,” said Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren, one of eight men on the NFL competition committee that oversees rules and game operations.

The NFL said touchdown catches made by Jeremy Shockey and Amani Toomer shouldn’t have been ruled completions.

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Oakland Raider defensive tackle Warren Sapp will undergo rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday.... Rookie Alex Smith will be the San Francisco 49ers’ starting quarterback for the final five games of the regular season, Coach Mike Nolan said.... A man arrested for running onto the field during the Eagles’ game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday told police he was spreading his mother’s ashes. Christopher Noteboom, of Tempe, Ariz., ran onto the field holding a plastic bag, leaving a cloud of fine powder behind. As he reached the 30-yard line, he dropped to his knees, made the sign of the cross and lay on his stomach. Security personnel reached him moments later, and he offered no resistance as he was escorted from the field. Noteboom, 33, said his mother died of emphysema in January, shortly before the Eagles’ Super Bowl appearance. “She never cared for any other team except the Eagles,” Noteboom told WPVI-TV after he was released from custody. “I know that the last handful of ashes I had are laying on the field, and will never be taken away. She’ll always be part of Lincoln Financial Field and of the Eagles.” Noteboom, a bar owner, was charged with defiant trespass.