Patience is Jets' only option with Holmes

Extra Points: Patience is Jets' only option with Holmes - Football Wires - MiamiHerald.com

PHILADELPHIA  -  The  New  York Jets  desperately  need Santonio  Holmes but  veteran players  don't  really need  training camp,  and that's the stalemate "Gang Green" finds itself in with the enigmatic receiver.

Holmes  is 11  months out  from the  Lisfranc injury  which derailed  his 2012
season and the doctor who treated him believes Santonio could be practicing if
that was the kind of thing that interested him.

Dr.  Robert Anderson  has cleared  the Ohio  State product  to begin  football
activities, according to the New York Post.

Holmes,  however, has continued to balk over his potential return leaving many
inside  the  Jets organization speculating  that Holmes wants to avoid tedious
training camp and preseason practices at all costs.

"I  never had one from the start," Holmes said when discussing the target date
for  his return. "Coming  off of injury, the first time, just letting the foot
heal up and see where we can go from there."

Holmes  even  informed reporters  last week  that he hadn't  begun to run yet.
Unfortunately  for him,  though, everyone has cell phones these days and video
shot  by a  fan in the stands  at SUNY Cortland caught the wide receiver doing
exactly that on the sidelines.

That  was  followed by  a Saturday  night appearance  where Holmes was running
pretty  well and caught  a few passes from rookie Geno Smith in warmups before
the Jets' preseason win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"I  probably ran two routes, which were the two passes that I caught from Geno
on  the  deep-side, but  everything  else  was walk,  catch  the  ball on  the
sideline,"  Holmes said  while making sure to let everyone know his foot feels
good  on some days, but  not so great on others -- sort of like the rest of us
who haven't been able to visit the Dr. Scholl's FootMapping Center recently.

"It wasn't really full-go. It wasn't planting and cutting the way I would like
to, so at this point, it's only making strides forward.

"This pain won't go away."

Fair  enough but  let me put the Jets'  concerns to rest ... that pain will go
away  by the  first week of September and Holmes will proclaim himself healthy
and ready to go for Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers..

Allen  Iverson may be the only sports star dumb enough to proclaim his disdain
for  practice in  a forum so public.  His famous rant will live on forever but
rest  assured  the thoughts behind The  Answer's complaints are shared by many
established players.

Yeah, it's selfish but it's also reality.

Some  hate practice  more than  others  of course  and Holmes  is evidently  a
charter  member  of the Percy Harvin  fan club, probably expending more energy
devising ways to get out of practice than he would if he just sucked it up for
a few hours.

Heck,  Holmes even  took  it up  a  notch  while going  to  the third  person,
proclaiming that if he cant reach "a Santonio Holmes level of competition," he
may never return.

"We  have 16 weeks  of football. At any point, I could be ready to play and if
not I'd be willing to accept it."

That  kind  of doom and  gloom talk  set off alarm  bells but before Jets fans
commit to a ledge, understand Holmes has 358 career receptions under his belt,
a  Super Bowl MVP award and the knowledge that the team's starting wideouts in
his absence are Stephen Hill and Jeremy Kerley.

When  Holmes  wants to come back  -- and he  has about $7.5 million reasons to
want to come back -- he will be welcomed with open arms and he knows it.

So why not extend the rehabilitation for a few more weeks?

After all, we're talkin' about practice ... not a game ... practice.