Jets Country

Jets' Elijah Riley 'Checked Out Fine' After Scary Neck Injury

New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh provides an injury update on safety Elijah Riley who was carted off the field with a neck injury against the Miami Dolphins.

Max Goodman

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Jets safety Elijah Riley "checked out fine" after a scary collision in the third quarter of Sunday's loss to the Dolphins, according to New York's head coach Robert Saleh. 

Hard Rock Stadium was practically silent for several minutes after Riley was looked at by team doctors, laying motionless on the ground. With players from both teams kneeling across the field, the safety was slowly strapped onto an emergency spine board.

At one point, as he was driven off the field, Riley raised his fist, drawing applause from the crowd.

The gut-wrenching injury occurred on Miami's first drive of the second half. On a screen to running back Duke Johnson, Riley was hit unintentionally by his teammate Kyle Phillips as he sprinted in from the secondary, trying to make the tackle. CBS Sports elected not to show a replay of the incident.

"That was tough," cornerback Bryce Hall said after the game. "He's a warrior and one of the things we know we're going to get out of him is he's going to go 100 miles per hour, full speed and so that was tough to see our brother go down like that."

Riley was quickly ruled out for the game with a neck injury. Saleh was able to reveal to reporters postgame that Riley is good, he has regained motion and will travel back to New York with the team. No further details are available at this time.

"We play a violent game and you never want to see something like that, especially a guy getting carted off," Hall added. "That's the worst part about playing this game. We were a little bit down, but obviously that's not an excuse."

At the time of the injury, the Jets were winning 17-10, looking to carry over a strong first half performance into the third quarter. The Dolphins went on to score a touchdown on that drive, outscoring the Jets 21-7 the rest of the way in a 31-24 victory.

"It's tough for anyone," Saleh said. "These guys put in so much work and to see one of their own—even for the Dolphins players to see Elijah down—I can tell you it's not comfortable for anybody."

Riley, 23, played college ball at Army, securing some playing time in New York's secondary after a season-ending injury to veteran safety Marcus Maye. Sunday was Riley's fifth start with the Jets, entering play with one sack and 28 tackles in green and white. 

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Jets for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. He also covers the New York Yankees, publisher  of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Yankees site, Inside The Pinstripes. Before starting out with SI, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. While at school, Goodman gathered valuable experience as an anchor and reporter on NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. Goodman previously interned at MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman and connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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