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Thursday, August 27, 2009
So far this preseason, Super Bowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes may as well be invisible.
The Steelers wide receiver has one reception for 16 yards, and he's been targeted only twice in the first two exhibition games.
Holmes hasn't gone diva on the coaching staff, as many of the elite pass catchers in the NFL are prone to do. Not once has Holmes delivered a "do you know who I am?" proclamation to the team via the media.
The difference between Holmes and many of his peers is that Holmes mostly keeps his thoughts private.
Holmes loves catching the ball, but he appears to love winning even more.
Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes works with rookie Mike Wallace during organized team activities on the South Side. Christopher Horner/Tribune-Review
"We're not bickering and (complaining) about anything in the preseason. I don't have any focus on if I catch a pass or I don't in the preseason," Holmes said. "It's not going in the stat book. It's not going to count toward us winning the Super Bowl."
The Steelers know what Holmes can do. They're not so sure about Limas Sweed and rookie Mike Wallace. They know what Shaun McDonald can do, but McDonald can't stretch the secondary the way that Wallace can.
McDonald has been thrown to a team-high 11 times, Sweed has been targeted nine times and Wallace eight times. Hines Ward has been thrown to five times.
"It's more so just been the play-calling. We really don't have much (offense) in," Holmes said. "I catch maybe six to eight balls every day in practice. Me going up against the No. 1 defense in the world, it doesn't hurt to not catch a ball in the preseason."
Holmes missed a second day of practice Wednesday after taking a helmet to his back against the Redskins in the Steelers' second preseason game.
He made his only catch of the preseason last Saturday -- for 16 yards on third-and-9 in the first quarter. Earlier, during the Steelers' opening drive, Holmes and backup quarterback Charlie Batch hooked up for a 47-yard reception, but it was challenged and overruled.
Entering his fourth season, Holmes has come to grips with what he may want to accomplish individually and what the Steelers offense allows him to do. He understands and accepts his limitations.
Like all receivers, Holmes is supremely confident in his ability to get open against any type of coverage.
There's no way that Holmes should have caught quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's thread-the-needle dart for the winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl XLIII.
In one of the great late-game performances in Super Bowl history, Holmes caught four passes for 73 yards in the final possession. He caught a 13-yarder on third-and-6 and a 40-yarder down to the Arizona 6.
And he did it against a secondary that was intent on stopping him with Ward slowed by a knee injury.
Roethlisberger threw to Holmes five times in that final drive -- three more times than he's been targeted this preseason.
"We have a smart enough quarterback to know where the ball should go when the coverage comes," Holmes said. "You're not going to dictate how you're going to play in the preseason, as opposed to what you're going to do when it really counts.
"I don't think any team is going to really show what they want to do as far as playing me right now."
The Steelers certainly aren't revealing their hand about how they plan to play Holmes.
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