FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Tone Time still might be on hold for a while.
New York Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes acknowledged Wednesday that he doesn't have a timetable for when he might return to the field as he recovers from a serious foot injury that sidelined him for most of last season.
"I never had one from the start," Holmes said of a target date. "Coming off of injury, the first time, just letting the foot heal up and see where we can go from there."
Holmes recently told reporters he hadn't even begun to run, but video from a fan in the stands at SUNY Cortland surfaced later that day with the receiver running at three-quarters speed on the sideline. There appeared to be more cause for optimism Saturday night, when Holmes was running at full speed and caught a few passes from Geno Smith in warmups before the Jets' preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"I probably ran two routes, which were the two passes that I caught from Geno on the deep-side, but everything else was walk, catch the ball on the sideline," Holmes said. "It wasn't really full-go. It wasn't planting and cutting the way I would like to, so at this point, it's only making strides forward."
Holmes added that his foot feels good on some days, but it still bothers him on others.
"This pain won't go away," he said.
That doesn't sound like a guy who will be ready to play in the Sept. 8 season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Holmes said he still feels pain in his foot every morning when he wakes up, and it's something he is learning to tolerate.
"I'm not able to be at Santonio Holmes' level of competition," he said, "so right now, it's just going with what I can give."
But Holmes said the way he looks isn't necessarily an indication of reality.
"Looks can be deceiving," he said. "I say that with a smile because if I actually look or felt as good as I looked, I would definitely be 100 percent ready. With that being said, looks can be deceiving."
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press
