Holmes: I was "the scapegoat" last year
Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes talks to the media after the team's offseason workout at their practice facility in Florham Park, N.J. (May 10, 2012) Credit: Joe Epstein
CORTLAND, N.Y. – No longer does Santonio Holmes have to worry about demanding the ball more. No does he run the risk of being “the scapegoat” for the Jets’ problems.
During a 12 ½-minute ESPN radio interview at SUNY Cortland, Holmes expressed his excitement for the upcoming season and teaming up with starting quarterback Mark Sanchez. But he also voiced frustration over the way he was used in the Jets’ regular-season finale in Miami last season and the coaching style of former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
“It was the end,” Holmes said of that game, in which he got into the face of right tackle Wayne Hunter and was benched in the fourth quarter of that Week 16 loss to the Dolphins. “It was playoffs on the line and your best receiver doesn’t get but two passes thrown his way in 60 minutes of football.
“That’s just hard to understand and to cope with, when you want everything just as bad as everybody else does and it doesn’t even happen. And nobody has the answers for it, but the scapegoat. The scapegoat is the answer. And that’s what happened.”
Holmes did, however, accept some responsibility for the locker turmoil, saying on air that he should not have aired grievances with players publicly. He admitted, he was at the heart of the issues last season.
“It was me," Holmes said. "Not answering those questions in that manner. Not saying the things that were asked of me to say, and just learning how to hold my tongue and to be more critical of myself instead of others."
The arrival of coordinator Tony Sparano has alleviated Holmes’ concerns – especially when it comes to getting the ball more. The wide receiver said Sparano has made it a point to tell his offensives “no matter what, he’s going to make sure we’re all taken care of.”
“And I think bringing in that attitude towards us this season is probably something that we were missing back then,” said Holmes. “Everybody being accountable for what has to take place for us to win as a team.”
The Jets No. 1 receiver also took a not-so-veiled shot at Schottenheimer, saying that Sparano is “more of a coach. He knows how to coach the team as opposed to being an offensive coordinator. And I think coaching each one of those positions up to being the best guys that we can provide for this team is what we needed and what we didn’t have last year.”
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Here are more quotes from the ESPN interview with Stephen A. Smith and Ryan Ruocco:
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