Santonio Holmes knew he’d be somewhat limited Sunday against Miami, but he had no idea he’d be pulled after just three snaps. And afterward, a clearly frustrated Holmes said he had no control over his playing time, or the errant passes that missed receivers all day, or the Jets’ new quarterback controversy.
“I’m doing good [physically],’’ Holmes said after Gang Green suffered a 23-3 beating at MetLife Stadium that all but ended their playoff hopes. “It was a coach’s decision. [I had] limited plays coming off an injury, so we wanted to monitor that and make sure everything is OK for the rest of the season.’’
Holmes, who was questionable with a balky hamstring coming into Sunday’s AFC East showdown, played only two snaps on Gang Green’s opening drive and just one more on the next before being lifted for good.
“It wasn’t my decision. … I’m a player here. I have to go with what the coaches say. You can’t go against the coaches at all,’’ said Holmes, who admitted he had no idea he’d be pulled that quickly, but added he didn’t think he could have played the entire game, either.
Coach Rex Ryan confirmed the Jets tried to be careful with Holmes, who has also had an injured foot to go with his sore hamstring. But Ryan admitted he really didn’t know how many — or how few — snaps the wideout was limited to.
“I think we were trying to pace him through the games. We weren’t going to overload him on his playing time. We were trying to be careful there,’’ Ryan said. “Again, I don’t know how many plays he played. I know it wasn’t that many.’’
The same could be said about how many big plays the Jets made. They were held to 177 yards, and just 39 in the first half with struggling starter Geno Smith under center until Ryan mercifully pulled him for Matt Simms.
“What we’re seeing on the football field wasn’t a great performance, and the outcome showed,’’ Holmes said of Smith, who was missing receivers badly. “We can’t make any decisions on how the ball is being thrown. All we have to do is go out and catch it when it’s thrown in our area.’’
Holmes, who didn’t address next week’s game against Oakland, wasn’t targeted once in his three snaps. But he was open about his frustrations over a miserable passing game that hasn’t accounted for a touchdown through the air since Oct. 20, a drought that stretches to five games.
“It’s disappointing,’’ said Holmes. “We work really hard throughout the week, we work a lot on our red-zone offense and we pride ourselves on scoring touchdowns.’’