If the Jets are alternating between Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow at quarterback this season, their No. 1 receiver thinks that’s a recipe for failure.
Santonio Holmes, who was an unhappy camper with Sanchez last season, suggested in an interview on NFL Network that he won’t be happy this season if he’s going back and forth between catching passes from Sanchez and catching passes from Tebow. Asked by Andrew Siciliano whether a two-quarterback system can work in the NFL, Holmes answered, “No.”
“I don’t think so,” Holmes continued. “Because you have to allow one quarterback to get in the rhythm of a game. And it starts from the preparation of practice.
Holmes said Sanchez needs to know he’s the man, and it would be bad for Sanchez’s development as a player to put him in a position where he’s looking over his shoulder and wondering whether he’s going to get benched in favor of Tebow if he throws an interception.
“Making mistakes early in the game to finishing the game at the end, you don’t change a guy out just because he has a few mistakes early in a game,” Holmes said. “So I think coming into the season we have a lot to expect from Sanchez.”
Holmes was benched in the final game of the 2011 season when he complained bitterly about the offense, but he suggested in the interview today that if anything, he showed commendable patience in holding his tongue until the end of last season. Holmes indicated that his frustrations had been mounting all year, and that he refrained from complaining early in the season even though he had just 22 catches in the Jets’ seven games before their bye week.
“I didn’t say anything about last season until Week 17,” Holmes said. “It hurt to play seven games and only have 20 catches.”
This year, Holmes said, he and Sanchez have worked well together in the offseason, and he expects to get more than three catches a game. But if it doesn’t work that way, it may be tough to keep Holmes happy. No matter who’s playing quarterback.