CORTLAND – The Jets survived their first injury scare of the season Saturday night.
Wide receiver Santonio Holmes left the team’s intrasquad scrimmage with what was thought to be a broken rib, but X-rays showed no break and a team spokesman said he is day-to-day.
Jets coach Rex Ryan caused a stir after the game when he told reporters that Holmes might have a broken rib.
“I don’t know if Santonio broke a rib or not, but the fact that it was sticking out was probably an indicator,” Ryan said. “Again, I’m sure he’ll be fine. We’ll have to check on him later. Other than that, he had a good day.”
A short time later, the Jets announced the results of Holmes’ X-rays.
Ironically enough, the hit that knocked Holmes out of the game was delivered by cornerback and would be receiver Antonio Cromartie. It happened after Holmes caught a 7-yard pass from quarterback Mark Sanchez. Cromartie boasted earlier this week that he was the second-best receiver on the Jets behind Holmes.
Holmes missed time this week with what he called “soreness in the body.” Holmes had three catches for 22 yards in the scrimmage before leaving the game.
Being that it is the preseasonthe Jets will likely be extremely cautious with their $45 million man.
“I’m not real sure,” Ryan said when asked how long Holmes could be out for. “He’s a tough guy, but I don’t think he’s going to be running out there tomorrow or the next day.”
If Holmes had been lost for any extended period of time, it would have been devastating for the Jets offense. They are thin at wide receiver to start with, and have very little experience in the group behind Holmes.
The Jets have had a rash of “soft tissue” injuries like hamstring and groin tightness. Rookie Stephen Hill is currently the team’s second wide receiver. He had hamstring problems in the spring. Both Chaz Schillens (groin) and Jeremy Kerley (hamstring) have missed time during training camp.
“Man, that’s tough,” linebacker Aaron Maybin said. “We definitely had some injury problems at that position. Anytime that somebody goes down, one of the things that Rex preaches is the next man up. You have to be ready to step in and fill the void when somebody goes down. That was the position I was in last year when [Bryan Thomas] got hurt. Obviously, he’s a huge figure on our offense. He’s somebody that we definitely count on a lot. Like I said, we’re looking forward to somebody stepping up and picking up the slack until he gets back.”
Holmes famously flamed out at the end of last season, feuding with Sanchez and spending the final two minutes of the season on the bench in Miami. He has spent the offseason trying to fix the chemistry between himself and Sanchez. Now, they go a while without connecting. Holmes was asked this week when he was missing time if he needed to be on the field with Sanchez.
“We want to be on the field with each other at every moment we can,” he said. “I think the more we spend time off the field communicating we get a better understanding of who we are as teammates.”