Nov 13th 2008 8:57AM by JJ Cooper (author feed)
Filed under: Steelers, AFC NorthThis was supposed to be the season that Santonio Holmes made the leap from solid No. 2 receiver to Pro Bowl-caliber No. 1.

Nine games into the season, he’s not there. Holmes was having an OK season during the first seven games, but every since he was pulled over for possession of pot, Holmes and Ben Roethlisberger have not been on the same page. Holmes sat out the Giants game with a Mike Tomlin-imposed one-game suspension, and since he’s returned he’s been remarkably unproductive.

For all the talk of Roethlisberger’s troubles, his big problem comes when he targets Holmes. When he’s thrown to Nate Washington and Hines Ward over the last couple of games, he and backup Byron Leftwich have been pretty productive. Three of his four interceptions over that span have come on passes to Holmes, and Holmes’ has converted first downs on only 2 of the 21 passes thrown his way–an awful percentage that explains a lot of the Steelers failed drives.
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