JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Of all the games he's sat out and all the road trips he's missed this season, this week will be the toughest for Jeff Lageman of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Lageman

Not only are these the playoffs -- a time of year that has come around all-too-rarely for the 10th-year defensive lineman -- but the game is being played at the Meadowlands against his former team, the New York Jets.

Lageman has been on injured reserve since September with a biceps tear he suffered in the first quarter of the first game of the season.

"It would have been a lot of fun to go up there and play in a playoff situation," Lageman said Thursday. "It's their first playoff game in a long time. It would have been a great feeling. But that's life."

Coach Tom Coughlin told all 13 of the Jaguars on injured reserve this week that they would not be allowed on the sideline for Sunday's playoff game due to a request from the NFL to weed out crowds around the benches. So Lageman won't be around for the Jets' first home playoff game since 1986.

"I still love New York," Lageman said. "We could go if we want to, but we just couldn't be on the sidelines. And I'm not going to go up just to sit in the stands up there."

If he did, he would probably get a great reception.

Lageman was a favorite among Jets fans from 1989-94, leading the team in sacks for three of those seasons and playing with a dogged consistency that stood out in the days when the team was never better than mediocre.

Some considered him the heart and soul of the Jets, and he gave everything he had in return.

His patience with the Jets ran out, however, when they fired Pete Carroll after the 1994 season -- a one-year stint -- and hired Rich Kotite in his place.

Lageman took the free agency route. And to show how serious he was about leaving, he chose the Jaguars, who were entering their expansion season.

"I gave everything I could to that organization for six years and I wanted to see it go in the right direction," Lageman said. "When I saw it wasn't, I wasn't going to sit there until the organization finally figured out they didn't make the right decision. So it was time to go."

It turned out to be a great decision for Lageman. While the Jets were suffering through 3-13 and 1-15 humiliations under Kotite, Lageman was becoming the cornerstone of a Jaguars team that progressed much more quickly than anyone expected.

He averaged about 60 tackles and four sacks a season and brought a leadership quality that Coughlin leaned upon heavily. After last season, Lageman signed a one-year contract, feeling this would be his final season and his last shot at a Super Bowl ring.

Although that dream is still alive for the Jaguars, it ended early for Lageman.

On just the fourth defensive play of the season opener against the Chicago Bears, he stuck his left arm out to tackle Edgar Bennett. Bennett's knee came up and popped him in the arm. The next day, Lageman was diagnosed with a biceps tear, an injury that takes 4-6 months of rehabilitation.

During rehab, he has remained a steady presence both in the community -- performing charity work and hosting a weekly Jaguars TV highlights show -- and in the locker room, where a replacement for Lageman's leadership was never truly found this year.

"He's been very resilient, he's done everything we've asked him to do," Coughlin said. "I know this is a very tough week for him. Jeff would certainly want to be involved in this one."

Next, the question is whether Lageman will come back for another year. It's one he has been reluctant to address all season. "Nothing," Lageman said when asked his thoughts about a possible return. "I haven't even thought about it."