Rex Ryan and Jets linebacker Bart Scott yesterday denied there’s any rift forming between the defensive players and the struggling offense, which hasn’t scored a touchdown in nine quarters.

There’s been speculation of defensive players being irked after the 10-6 loss to the Dolphins, particularly after defensive end Shaun Ellis told The Post after the game that he was upset when Ryan told the defense it “played [bleepy]” despite the fact that it yielded only 131 yards of offense to Miami.

“Come on man, I played with Kyle Boller for six years [in Baltimore],” Scott reasoned, referring to the struggling Ravens offense under the mediocre quarterback. “You don’t think I’ve seen anything like that before? I’ve been on teams that struggled offensively. It’s not my job to farm their land. It’s my job to not allow points on the board no matter what.

“Unless you play a perfect game you all can do something better.”

Asked if he’s concerned about the “division” between offense and defense, Ryan said, “I was around a team for 10 years [in Baltimore] where the defense played at a super-high level and if you looked at it statistically, the offense didn’t, and we never had a split. [We] are never going to split [here].”

***

WR Santonio Holmes

said yesterday that the reason be came off the field as the punt returner Sunday against Miami was because he’d become so frustrated with how well Dolphins punter Brandon Fields

was kicking he begged out of the game, giving way to CB Antonio Cromartie

.

“It wasn’t fun because the guy was kicking it 60 or 70 yards and he didn’t give me a chance to get going,” Holmes said. “I was upset. I kind of got frustrated and didn’t even want to return punts because of way he was punting the ball.

“I got tired of him punting. Every time he got back to punt, this guy was standing on his own goal line and he’s punting it to our 15-yard line. I’m like, ‘Who does that?’ I told ‘West’ (special teams coach Mike Westhoff), ‘You can send someone else back there. There’s no way I want to return 97-yard punts.’ ”

Holmes will be back returning punts Sunday against his former team, the Steelers.

“Those guys know how I feel about returning punts at that stadium [Heinz Field],” he said. “Those guys know if they give me an opportunity, trust me, I’m going to take advantage of it. If they give me a crease, I’m going to take it the house. Feed that to those guys.”

***

The Jets will be without safety Eric Smith

, who’s suffering from a concussion. Backup S James Ihedigbo

(knee and ankle) also missed practice yesterday, though Ryan said he hopes he’ll be able to play Sunday.

With the Jets so thin at safety (starter Jim Leonhard

is out for the season with a broken leg), Ryan said they’ve moved Dwight Lowery

, who’s played both cornerback and safety, to safety permanently. Ryan said if Ihedigbo can’t play, then Emanuel Cook

, who was signed for depth purposes last week, will play.

Other players who didn’t practice yesterday were DL Trevor Pryce

, who has a hip injury, and RB LaDainian Tomlinson

and FB Tony Richardson

, both of whom were rested.

RT Damien Woody

underwent successful arthroscopic surgery to repair the MCL in his right knee yesterday. He’s expected to miss the rest of the regular season. Wayne Hunter

will make his first NFL start on the offensive line in place of Woody.