Santonio Holmes is still not taking part in contact drills during practice.
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The status of Santonio Holmes still remains uncertain as the Jets close in on the start of the season.
Holmes continues to rehab and show progress following a Lisfranc injury suffered last year in Week 4 of the regular season. He has not played since and only began to practice last week after spending the entirety of training camp on the exercise bicycle and in rehab. But now progress has been made.
He is admittedly behind in his preparation for Sunday, especially with no real training camp or preseason.
Head coach Rex Ryan would only say “I certainly hope he plays” when asked if Holmes could be on the field this Sunday against the Buccaneers. Holmes did not practice on Thursday and Ryan likened it to the same mindset the team uses with tight end Kellen Winslow in limiting reps.
“Holmes’s deal, that was scheduled. Just like Winslow was scheduled. It was the same thing we’re doing with him,” Ryan said. “Kind of like a pitch count so to speak. He did not have a setback; it was a scheduled thing.”
As far as what Holmes will be able to do on the field, he said on Wednesday he’s been involved in “the majority of walk-through plays with no contact, no defense in front of me.” Where that leaves him on Sunday is anyone’s guess.
“I still don’t know. Still haven’t gotten any word from the doctors yet on whether I should be playing or not,” Holmes said on Wednesday. “So I am just going to keep playing it by ear.”
Despite Holmes being limited and being held out on Thursday by design, he’s looked relatively good. Given that he just started running and cutting three weeks ago, his progress to date is encouraging.
“I thought he looked pretty good. He hasn’t practiced a whole lot [and] it is a new system and things,” Ryan said. “I thought he caught the ball well. I thought he moved pretty good.”
Jets notes …
»Linebacker Quinton Coples (ankle) and Mark Sanchez (shoulder), in addition to Holmes, did not practice on Thursday.
»The Jets are back to doing pushups in practice following any penalty call. It was a punishment the Jets have used in the past, including last year, when the offending unit would drop down and pound out some pushups. After a sloppy preseason plagued by mental errors and lack of focus, the pushups came back on Thursday.
“We focused on the penalties, like self-inflicted things,” Ryan said.
Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.
