LI's Elijah Riley accepts his share of blame after Jets' stunning loss

Elijah Riley came flying into the picture, diving toward the right sideline around the Jets’ 4-yard line in an attempt to bat away Tom Brady’s pass before it reached the waiting hands of Cyril Grayson Jr.

"It was close," Riley said.

But the former Newfield High standout couldn’t quite knock down the pass.

Grayson, a former All-American in track at LSU who didn’t play college football, caught it at about the 3 and took it into the end zone, giving Tampa Bay a 33-yard touchdown and the deciding points with 15 seconds left in its 28-24 comeback victory Sunday at MetLife Stadium.

The Jets’ defense had held Brady and the defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers to 20 points and was guarding a four-point lead. But the unit ultimately broke at the hands of the seven-ringed G.O.A.T.

Riley pointed a finger afterward — at himself.

"In the final seconds against a team like this," he said, "I’ve got to be able to make that play."

The Jets blew a 24-10 third-quarter lead and fell to 4-12. So Riley wasn’t taking anything good out of this one even though they were right there with the Bucs until the end.

"It sounds cool, but you’ve got to win those games," said Riley, a second-year safety out of Army who was signed off Philadelphia’s practice squad on Nov. 9 and returned after being carted off on a backboard two weeks earlier with a concussion.

"It doesn’t matter who you’re playing,’’ Riley said. "We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do and win the game. There’s no moral victories. So what, we played close. We’ve got to finish it and get the win."

Brady threw for 410 yards and three touchdowns for the 12-4 NFC South champions, then passed compliments at the Jets.

"I give them a lot of credit," Brady said. "They played good on defense. They played really well. They stopped our run game at different times.

"They did a good job pressuring us in the pocket. They did a good job on offense with their run game . . .

"They stopped us a few times for a field goal. So we got behind."

With the Bucs down 24-20, the 44-year-old quarterback was looking at 93 yards of green turf in front of him with 2:12 left and no timeouts in his pocket.

It took him 1:57 to cover the distance. Brady went 7-for-9 during the nine-play drive.

"In a situation against a quarterback that’s done it many times before, we were excited for the opportunity to go out there and win ourselves a game," Riley said. "At the end of the day, we weren’t able to do that."