NFL

Jets’ DE’s return has joint a jumpin’

Bart Scott has yet to play a regular-season game with Shaun Ellis, but he knows the defense was missing something last week when Ellis sat out the opener in Houston.

“We had a good game without him, but he was sorely missed,” Scott said. “He can generate pressure on the quarterback all by himself. He’s a difference maker, and we need as many of those on the field as we can get this week.”

They’ll have him back tomorrow when Ellis — who missed the Jets’ 24-7 win over the Texans because he was serving a one-game suspension stemming from his arrest last November when he was charged with possession of marijuana, speeding and driving without insurance — makes his return in time for the Patriots to come to Giants Stadium for the Jets’ home opener.

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“It was hard,” said the defensive end, who watched the game on TV. “I wanted to be out there.”

Ellis has chosen to look at the game missed as an extra bye week.

“I don’t think I’ll be missing anything,” Ellis said. “My timing is there.”

Linebacker David Harris thought Ellis would be able to use the week off to his advantage.

“Where we were all banging out there, he was able to sit back and look at what we were doing and what our opponents were doing,” Harris said.

Despite his absence — and that of linebacker Calvin Pace, who is suspended the first four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances — Ellis said he was impressed by what he saw.

“It’s definitely how we want to play around here,” Ellis said of the defense’s performance in its first game under new head coach Rex Ryan. “We just have to carry that over. We want that to be the norm.”

Still, for as well as his teammates did, Ellis believes he could have added something to the effort.

“The guys did a terrific job,” Ellis said. “But I think my presence would have been felt.”

Harris agreed: “You can tell when a playmaker like that is on the field.”

Ellis will have his chance tomorrow against Tom Brady and Co., who needed two touchdowns in the final three minutes to beat the Bills in Week 1.

“That’s going to be a challenge,” Ellis said, impressed by Brady’s acumen. “His brain. He’s really smart like Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, those types of guys. They’re really not going to mess up that often. You’ve really got to force them into bad decisions.”

That figures to be at least a little easier by having Ellis around.

“Everyone knows the formula,” Ellis said, “Try and move him around and get people in his face.”

That will be part of Ellis’ job.

“He knows and understands the intricacies of different offenses very well,” Harris said.

Aside from that, Ryan expects Ellis to be even more effective than usual because of the involuntary week off.

“Sometimes I think it’s good from the standpoint that when something is taken away from you, you realize what you missed,” Ryan said.

“When he came back, he was the first guy on the practice field. He is bouncing around. I think he realized how much he misses it.”

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