INDIANAPOLIS — The rebuilding of the relationship between Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and wide receiver Santonio Holmes may begin with a weekend retreat.
Jets coach Rex Ryan told The Post last night he has spoken with both players and Holmes told him he’d like to get away for a weekend with Sanchez as the two try to fix their chemistry.
“It seemed like that was what Santonio was talking about,” said Ryan, who is at the Super Bowl to make some promotional appearances. “I don’t know if he’s reached out to Mark yet and done anything but that is what I believe to be true.”
A month after the 8-8 season ended in disaster in Miami for the Jets, Ryan said he feels like everything will be better in 2012. The relationship between his quarterback and receiver is first on that list.
“The first year they had good chemistry together,” Ryan said. “Whatever happened, happened, but we’ll learn from it. I’m confident because I think we have to be successful, they have to be successful together. I know one thing: They are both extremely competitive. There isn’t one person in this organization who feels good about where we finished. We can’t wait to get it done again. We’d love to be able to play tomorrow. We’ll see. I think the strength of our football team will be in how we feel about each other and all that, the chemistry that we’ve always built. I think that will be a strength and won’t be a weakness like it might have been perceived this year.”
Ryan just returned from a vacation in Hawaii. He said while he was there he took some time to reflect on what went wrong and what he needed to do to improve the chemistry on his team.
“I had a little pad of paper with me,” Ryan said. “On one side I put down things that I need to improve on after having time to be away from it a little bit. I put how I’m going to get it corrected on the other side. That’s the plan. Each year I try to do that. This year is obviously important. There’s a lot of things I can learn from this past season. I really can’t wait to get started.”
Super Bowl XLVI is a nightmare matchup for Ryan between his in-state rival, the Giants, and his division rival, the Patriots.
“I think it’s going to be an awesome game,” Ryan said. “The last two times these teams met it hasn’t been decided to the final minute of the game. I think it will be the same.”
His prediction?
“I’m not going to make a prediction,” Ryan said. “If I make a prediction on one team and that team loses, I’ll be blamed for it.”