David Garrard Named To Pro Bowl

With the Pro Bowl being played before the Super Bowl this year, the Pro Bowl quarterback Peyton Manning obviously has a bigger contest to worry about and will not participate in Sunday's game.

The NFL announced Monday that the Jaguars' David Garrard will replace the Indianapolis Colt's signal caller on the AFC Pro Bowl roster.

Saints quarterback Drew Brees will also skip the NFL's all-star game to prepare New Orleans for the Super Bowl, so Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb will suit up for the NFC on Sunday in Miami.

Garrard will play in the Pro Bowl for the first time in his eight-year career, joining teammate Maurice Jones-Drew as the two Jaguars representatives on the AFC squad.

Garrard, 31, just completed his third season as the Jaguars? starting quarterback. He's had 32 consecutive starts, which is the longest in team history for a quarterback and makes him one of only nine NFL quarterbacks to start 32 regular season games over the last two seasons.

Garrard finished the 2009 season with an 83.5 passer rating, completing 314 of 516 passes (60.9 percent) for 3,597 yards with 15 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. He was also the team?s second-leading rusher and tops among NFL quarterbacks, gaining 323 yards on 77 attempts and scoring three touchdowns.

Garrard had three 300-yard passing games last season and twice threw three touchdown passes in a game.

The only other Jaguars quarterback selected for a Pro Bowl was Mark Brunnell, who made the AFC team in 1996, 1997 and 1999.