Consider it “Tone It Down Time” around the Jets.
The postgame comments from wide receiver Santonio Holmes this week bothered his teammates enough that it was addressed behind closed doors. Holmes criticized the offensive line and quarterback Mark Sanchez after Sunday’s 34-17 loss to the Ravens.
Sanchez said it won’t happen again.
“I think our player policy is to just kind of keep things in house,” Sanchez said. “That kind of stuff won’t happen.
“Moving forward, that won’t happen. We’ve talked about it. Those individual improvements and stuff that happens on a personal level. . . . That kind of stuff doesn’t go past this locker room.”
When asked if he addressed the issue personally with Holmes, Sanchez said, “Within this locker room we talk about stuff like that. That’s about as far as I’m going to go on that.”
Minutes later, Holmes did not seem to have any idea what Sanchez was talking about.
He said no teammates said anything to him about what he said Sunday night, and that he didn’t even remember what he said.
After the Jets offense failed miserably against the Ravens, allowing Sanchez to get hit 10 times and failing to do much of anything, Holmes pointed the finger at the line and Sanchez. Holmes maintained that he also criticized the receivers, but it did not sound that way.
“It starts up front with our big guys, they need to do a better job protecting Mark, and Mark has to do a better job making his reads and getting the ball to playmakers,” Holmes said.
Sanchez and Holmes have not clicked on the field this season, connecting just 13 times in four games. Holmes expressed his frustration after the 34-24 loss in Oakland that he was targeted just twice. Against the Ravens, he was targeted 12 times. Holmes finished with just three catches for 33 yards, though.
Rex Ryan named both Sanchez and Holmes captains this season. Most people believe he selected Holmes as a way of motivating him to avoid trouble. Holmes is one transgression away from a season-long suspension.
Holmes feels that being a captain allows him to speak the way he did Sunday.
“If coach put a ‘C’ on my chest, everybody should listen to what I have to say whether it’s good or bad and let’s build from it,” Holmes said. “Let’s not take it out and say, ‘OK, we’re going to trash this person for saying something bad about the team in the media.’ ”
Holmes was suspended for the first four games in his first season as a Jet, but his impact was felt when he returned. He had two game-winning touchdown catches, and signed a five-year, $45.5 million contract with the team in July. Ryan likes to refer to the fourth quarter as “Tone Time.”
Sanchez was not the only Jets quarterback who did not like what Holmes said. Earlier this week on his regular radio spot, Jets legend Joe Namath ripped Holmes for griping publicly. Holmes did not seem to care what Namath had to say.
“Joe Namath doesn’t work for the New York Jets,” Holmes said. “He doesn’t coach here. He doesn’t have anything positive to say about us. We can’t feed into what he says on the outside to the media.”
brian.costello@nypost.com