Jets WRs Holmes, Salas ruled out vs. Patriots
New York Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes will miss his third consecutive game with a hamstring injury, as he was officially ruled out of Sunday's game against the New England Patriots.
The season-long trend of the Jets being forced to mix and match at receiver continues. With Clyde Gates going on injured reserve, the team this week signed free agent Josh Cribbs and signed Greg Salas off the Eagles' practice roster.
Salas wasted no time fitting in with the injury-plagued Jets: He didn't practice Friday and was ruled out of the Patriots game due to a knee injury.
Holmes has been rehabbing the injury, and doesn't care to update his progress with the media.
"I was just on the rehab table and I had to get taken off the table to come do interviews, so yes I do," Holmes told the New York Daily News on Thursday when asked if he felt doing interviews was hampering his recovery.
Even the Jets' healthy receivers have been banged up. Jeremy Kerley missed the first Patriots game on Sept. 13 due to a concussion. Stephen Hill suffered a concussion early in the Jets' 38-13 loss to the Titans on Sept. 29, though he returned to action eight days later against the Falcons. Hill also had to be helped to the locker room at the end of the first half on Sunday after he absorbed a vicious hit to the midsection from the Steelers' Troy Polamalu.
Such blows would be tough to absorb for anyone, never mind a team like the Jets, which opened the year with a rookie quarterback who had only one reliable receiver -- Kerley -- to whom he could throw. Hill is in his second NFL season, Gates in his third, Holmes was slow to recover from the Lisfranc injury that ended his 2012 season and the No. 5 wideout was the since-released Ryan Spadola, an undrafted free agent rookie out of Lehigh.
Of course, this is the NFL, so there's no sympathy for the Jets, either inside or outside the team facility.
"The National Football League -- things happen, injuries happen," Jets coach Rex Ryan said this week. "So that's part of it. That's part of becoming a pro and then the next guy steps up and you go from there. Is it ideal? No. That's not an ideal situation."
--CB Kyle Wilson (concussion) took part in Friday's practice and is listed as probable. Wilson was hurt in the first half of the Jets' 19-6 loss to the Steelers last Sunday.
--CB Dee Milliner (hamstring) practiced in full Friday and is listed as probable. He first injured the hamstring in practice Sept. 25.
