Santonio Holmes is back...sort of. The New York Jets wide receiver returned to old form on the field last Sunday after missing almost the entire 2012 season with a Lisfranc injury in his left foot. Recovery took a long time but he finally made his big season impact at just the right time for the Jets. While Holmes might be back to playing, he is far from being 100 percent healthy.
Holmes certainly looked healthy while putting up a career-high 154 yards on 10 passes, including a 69-yard touchdown to help seal the win against the Buffalo Bills. While the wide receiver is showing glimpses of himself prior to getting injured in the fourth game of the season last year, he insists he is not back to normal just yet.
"I won't do that to myself. I said I have a long ways to go. It's only my third game back from a full year recovering. (I) didn't have a lot of chances to practice up until this point and I still have a lot of learning and a lot of physical things to continue working on, such as staying in my rehab regimen. So I still have a long ways to go," Holmes said, via NJ.com.
Holmes continues to remain limited in practice, part of the plan to slowly work back into football shape. The Jets are being careful not to overload him during the week, in order to increase his production on the field during the weekends. It appears to be working. Holmes has played a total of 178 snaps, producing 218 yards on nine total receptions. If he can repeat that success every week, the Jets would be thrilled.
"If each week can be like that, I'm pretty sure myself and the rest of the team will be very ecstatic to see we can produce numbers like we did last week. I know it's going to be tough going forward because teams are going to have more opportunities to watch more film and get a chance to study the things that we do," Holmes said.
Holmes says that while his foot does not feel any better, everything has become a mental game. He says that he challenges himself every week to get on the field and practice and produce. It is working. The Jets will face the Tennessee Titans on Sunday an Holmes is sure to see plenty of action.
