Santonio Holmes and Derrick Mason found each other on the Reliant Stadium field moments before the Jets’ preseason opener with the Texans. Mason told Holmes he joined the Jets to win a championship.
“We looked each other in the eyes and we just know it’s going to come down to us making big plays for [quarterback Mark] Sanchez,” Holmes said after Monday night’s 20-16 loss in Houston.
The Jets have put a lot of pressure on Sanchez, now in his third season, to lead the team. But they also have given him weapons to play with. He clicked with Holmes and Mason during the Jets starters’ two drives against the Texans. Today, Plaxico Burress is supposed to practice with the team for the first time after suffering a sprained left ankle two weeks ago.
The trio, along with tight end Dustin Keller, gives Sanchez targets to choose from. During the 15 plays he played Monday night, Sanchez hit Holmes twice and Mason three times. He went 6-of-7 for 43 yards on mostly quick, timing throws.
Mason and Sanchez only have had a handful of practices together. The 24-year-old quarterback said he was happy he clicked with the veteran receiver.
“Even though they were quick throws, just to make sure he was feeling good and understood the plays [was good],” Sanchez said. “He did a great job. He lined up in all the right spots, knew all the plays, ran the right routes. [Holmes] got off to a good start. I wanted to try to get the ball to Dustin if I could, but the coverage didn’t allow for it.”
With Burress in place today, the Jets should get a clearer picture of what their offense will look like. They also played without starting center Nick Mangold and right guard Brandon Moore on Monday night.
The Jets offense has looked sloppy at times in practice, but coach Rex Ryan said that is because they are going against the Jets defense. He was not surprised they had success against the Texans.
“I think our No. 1 defense is pretty good,” Ryan said. “You look at it, I think it will end up being the best in the league. When you’re going [against] those 1s all the time you’re not always going to look good. This defense right here [in Houston] certainly isn’t to our caliber. I’m sure it’s going to get better with Wade [Phillips, defensive coordinator] over there. I wasn’t surprised that we went out and performed and moved the ball. I would like to finish.”
The Jets’ struggles to score in the red zone is the knock on their offense and it lingers from last year. The Jets drove the ball to the Texans’ 10-yard line on the first drive and then stalled. Sanchez said they called the wrong coverage and Xavier Adibi sacked him on third down. Overall, the Jets starters and reserves scored on one of three trips to the red zone.
“Our goal was to score over 60 percent of the time in the red zone and I don’t think we accomplished that,” Holmes said. “We’ll just go back in and check out the film and see what we did wrong, see how we can get it corrected, make sure it doesn’t happen again next time.”
Sanchez echoed Holmes, but he clearly was happy with what the first-team offense was able to do.
“I was proud of the first group for moving the ball the way we did, getting first downs,” he said. “Now we just need to finish it.”
brian.costello@nypost.com