5.4 Air Intake Question

I have an ’01 Navigator with the 300hp 5.4 V8 in it. It was running great until I took it in for an oil change 4 months ago and the thief at the shop showed me a greasy air filter which he claimed he took off my car. I knew he was F.O.S. but I went ahead and had him put a new one in anyway. Next he came out to tell me my fuel injectors were dirty and he needed to clean them for $200. I told him to just oil and lube my car and leave everything else alone. After that the car seemed to use more gas and the engine shakes at about 65 mph but smooths out again at 70. I decided to check if he even put the air filter in, he did. But!!! when I took the rubber air intake snout off the top of the engine at the throttle body, I noticed something strange. The butterfly valves have tiny hollow brass threaded rod "nozzles" that point straight at you, 2 on each butterfly valve on the pivot rod. It was obvious that they were all squeezed with pliers, one completely closed. My Question is....what is the function of those brass nozzles. Is it an easy fix? would that cause the aforementioned issues with lesser mpg and engine vibration at certain speeds? How could he see my injectors anyway from the top side? Advice? BTW It has 75K miles on it. Thanks in advance!!!