The last time wide receivers Jeremy Kerley and Santonio Holmes played in a game together, our active roster included fellow receivers Clyde Gates, Ben Obomanu and Ryan Spadola, the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants were winless, and RB-KR Darius Reynaud was playing against us.
Yeah, it's been a while. Week 4 at Tennessee to be exact.
Holmes missed Games 5 through 9 with a hamstring injury, while Kerley suffered an elbow injury vs. the Saints Week 9 and hasn't played since.
Both were listed as limited on yesterday's injury report, but they and the team are cautiously optimistic that they'll be able to suit up Sunday against the Oakland Raiders at MetLife Stadium.
"It's tolerable pain. It's all right," Kerley said. "It stinks not being out there, only being limited to the training room and seeing guys out there working hard. But all I can do is try to get myself healthy and that's what I've done, so I'm excited about being back."
"I'm making strides, making real good strides," Holmes said in front of his Atlantic Health Jets Training Center locker Wednesday afternoon. "Today was an even better day at practice and I look forward to steadily making progress throughout the rest of this week."
Despite missing one-third of our games so far, Kerley leads the team in receptions (28) and receiving yards (347).
Holmes, meanwhile, has sat out for two-thirds of our games (if we include last week when he played only two snaps before being shut down for precautionary reasons due to his lack of burst), but still has 13 catches for 326 yards. Santonio's 25.1 yards per catch is the top average among NFL players with double-digit receptions this season.
QB has missed having his top receivers on the field, but Wednesday was, in head coach Rex Ryan's opinion, the best offensive practice of the season. And with four games remaining and the Jets likely needing to win every one of them to even have a chance at the playoffs, time is running out to get Santonio Holmes and JK rolling.
"I feel like it's just another piece to the puzzle," Kerley said of his possible return. "When the puzzle's all put together, we can roll. I don't feel like we're struggling too hard right now. I think guys just have to come together and lean on each other a little bit more. Myself, Geno, the wide receivers, just do our part and everything else will fall in place. I'm excited about coming back."
"The season is what it is right now," Holmes said. "We all wish for peaches and creams every day and having Christmas every day around here, but we have to deal with what we have right now. That's right now, an up-and-down season, and we have to finish these last four games on a good roll."
