Less than three weeks ago the Jaguars held their playoff destiny in their own hands.

Now their season is falling apart at the seams.

According to SI.com, Maurice Jones-Drew ill probably require offseason surgery on his right knee and is likely out for the Jaguars’ important tilt against the Texans on Sunday. Considering he had a cleanup procedure done on his knee in preseason, it’s probably safe to assume that he played hurt for the first 15 weeks of the season. He was still able to gain 1,641 total yards and seven touchdowns, which is remarkable if he was injured.

Making matters worse for the Jags is that quarterback David Garrard will also be held out against Houston after having surgery on his finger. Trent Edwards will start in his place and although he’s facing a brutal Houston secondary, it’s certainly not in Jacksonville’s best interest to be starting a backup quarterback for the most important game of the season.

The Jaguars can still make the playoffs but their chances are slim to none. First and foremost, they need the Colts to lose to the Titans in Indianapolis on Sunday. They also need to beat the Texans and given the way they played last Sunday against the Redskins when they didn’t have Jones-Drew, there’s a good chance that Jacksonville will end its season on a three-game losing streak.

A team that had so much promise a couple of weeks ago, the Jaguars will probably be left to think about the season that could have been.

From Rotoworld:

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that there are “questions and doubts around the league” regarding the health of Maurice Jones-Drew’s knee.

Schefter confirms that Jones-Drew will start Sunday, but it sounds like there is serious concern about whether he’ll be 100 percent. It’s never a good sign when a running back has a knee injury, period. We can’t imagine sitting MJD in such a favorable matchup (the Broncos’ front seven is incredibly weak), but it’s a situation to track closely early in the year. Jones-Drew owners must grab Rashad Jennings. Deep leaguers can pick up Deji Karim.

MJD said Monday that the knee is a “non-issue” and that there have been a lot of false reports surrounding his health. He claims the reason he didn’t play in preseason was because he was resting and that coincides with what the Jaguars have said all along as well.

As of now, we don’t know whom to believe. MJD says he’s fine, but Schefter is usually on the money with his reports and he never releases anything prematurely. Maybe MJD did injure the knee in practice and as an extra percussion, the Jags decided to hold him out in preseason. I doubt that they would risk serious injury if he couldn’t play, but Schefter’s report is worrisome to say the least.

I guess we’ll find out in four days what the true story is.