Shaun Ellis Suspended for Opener

Shaun Ellis was suspended by the league for the opener in Houston because of his drug arrest last year.

Ellis, a 10-year vet, was stopped last November for speeding in Hanover Twp. and officers detected the smell of marijuana in the car. Ellis was arrested for possessing less than 50 grams of marijuana and also charged with not having valid insurance.

Ellis, who was fined an undisclosed amount by the team last season but not suspended, will be placed on the reserve/suspended list.

``The league made a call and there's nothing I can do about it,'' said Ellis. ``I just have to learn from this mistake and just move on and just put it behind me and get ready for Week 2. ... It's a situation that happened last year. For it to carry on into this year is kind of tough.

``I just wish I would've been able to deal with it last year and this year I would've been going into things fresh.''

 

As I said at the time, it's very disappointing to see Shaun put the team in this spot. He's the longest tenured Jet and one of the leaders in the locker room. It would be one thing for this to happen to a rookie.

This hits the Jets at a really tough time. The team will already be without one of the defense's key playmakers for the first four weeks because of the Calvin Pace suspension.

We see again how thin this team is on the lines. This was clear last week when three starters on the offensive line got hurt. It's not really clear the Jets have a capable starter at the other end spot as it is. Trying to play without Ellis against Steve Slaton and Alex Gibbs' zone blocking scheme is going to be quite a test. Remember the success Denver had a year ago using the same system against the Jets.

Kris Jenkins is going to have to be an incredible force in that first game. Eric Mangini's defense assigned him the role of space eater. He'll have to consistently beat his men and make big plays to compensate for the potential struggles of everybody else up front.