There’s only one moment Sunday at Heinz Field when it truly will be “Tone Time,” and that’s when Santonio Holmes is celebrating a Jets AFC Championship victory by doing that “Flight Boys” routine, weaving his way around the field pretending to be a Jet airplane with his arms spread out like wings — flying non-stop to Dallas for Super Bowl XLV.
Holmes did his best yesterday to try convincing everyone that he purged himself of his “personal” vengeance against the Steelers, who gave him away to the Jets for a fifth-round draft choice before this season, in the Jets’ win a month ago at Pittsburgh.
Don’t believe him for a minute.
Holmes burns to celebrate a Super Bowl berth on the field he cut his teeth en route to becoming a Super Bowl MVP while wearing Steelers black and gold.
“The personal game is out of the way,” Holmes said. “I got a chance to beat those guys the first time around. I don’t care about the Steelers right now. Those guys are in my team’s way. If we win the Super Bowl, then everything is personal. [Then] that’s a slap back in those guys’ faces for trading me.”
With every big play Holmes has made for the Jets it’s a slap in the face to the Steelers, who grew tired of his off-the-field liability.
Holmes was suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, and there were other transgressions in Pittsburgh, including domestic violence and disorderly conduct charges, that wore out his welcome.
“They gave up on him,” safety James Ihedigbo said. “You know the saying: Another man’s loss is another man’s gain? That’s how it’s been for us. [Holmes] and I talked about that. It’s payback time. They passed up on him and didn’t want him around and he’s been nothing but best of the best here.”
Indeed, with the Jets, Holmes appears to have been a model citizen and teammate — all the while furthering his reputation as a big-play receiver who has the uncanny knack for being the focal point at the most crucial moments.
In a span of a little more than a month in midseason, Holmes set up an improbable win in Denver by drawing a pass interference penalty, then set up the game-winning field goal in Detroit with a long catch-and-run, then caught the game-winning TD pass in Cleveland and again against the Texans.
In Sunday’s playoff win over the Patriots, Holmes made an acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone that was reminiscent of his game-winning catch with 35 seconds remaining in Super Bowl XLIII that helped earn him MVP honors.
“One of the reasons we brought ‘Tone’ here is for these kinds of games,” Rex Ryan said. “Big-time players make big-time plays in the brightest spotlight, and here it is right here: AFC Championship time. This is ‘Tone Time.’”
“Tone Time” is a buzzword this season that was borne from Holmes’ succession of big plays in big moments.
The Post yesterday asked a number of players how they would define “Tone Time.” Here’s a sampling of their responses:
Right tackle Wayne Hunter: “Intense, emotional, artistic, skillful.”
Left guard Matt Slauson: “If you put the ball anywhere near him we’re going to win.”
Ihedigbo: “One word: playmaker.”
Defensive tackle Sione Pouha: “I call him, ‘Magic,’ because he has that ability to pull a rabbit out of a hat.”
The amazing thing about Holmes is where he’s taken his career since that Super Bowl moment. Some Jets players The Post spoke to yesterday said they hadn’t even heard of Holmes before he made that game-winning catch to win the Super Bowl. Others were only somewhat aware of him.
“That catch heard ’round the world and the MVP, that’s the first time I heard his name,” Hunter said. “He’s been balling ever since. It’s funny how one moment like that can really make you into a whole other player. That catch made his career.”
Holmes now wants to take it all to even greater heights. He wants to fly around Heinz Field after a Jets win Sunday — all the way to Dallas and Super Bowl XLV, where he can pursue yet another “Tone Time” moment.
mcannizzaro@nypost.com