INDIANAPOLIS | Julius Moore's wide, straight grin includes a gold-crowned tooth just right of center, which is where his son plays on the New York Jets' offensive line.
The Gary man was all smiles on Sunday when son Brandon and his team were on the verge of upsetting the Colts in Sunday's AFC championship game.
The smile shrunk a little after New York lost 30-17 to host Indianapolis in Lucas Oil Stadium, but there were plenty of reasons to remain beaming.
The fifth-seeded Jets weren't supposed to be here in the first place.
They had a rookie quarterback and rookie head coach and sneaked into the playoffs, benefiting greatly from the Colts' Week 16 decision to bench their starters and all but hand New York a win.
And then there's Moore, an eighth-year pro who played defense in college and signed as an undrafted free agent in 2002. His improbable run in pro football is a microcosm of the Jets' Cinderella run this year.
On a line full of players with lifelong pedigrees and all-everything resumes throughout high school, college and the pros, Moore is the odd man out, though he's seldom singled out for his on-field performance at right guard.
Too big to be allowed to play Pop Warner football as a kid, Moore had to work on his skills at summer camps before he got to star at West Side and earn a scholarship to Illinois.
The Jet with the longest active streak of regular-season starts with 89, the 6-foot-3, 305-pound Moore just finished the first year of a four-year extension worth $16 million, including $10 million in guaranteed money.
The Jets ran Moore's way their first two plays of the game and gained good ground en route to a 17-6 lead. The Colts' speedy defense, however, caught the Jets in the backfield several times and held New York to 86 yards for the game, with the Jets forced to pass late after the Colts went ahead on the strength of their amazing offense.
"You just come so far and think about all the hard work you put in," Moore said after the game. "It's been a long season, but I'm proud of the guys that I played with and the season I had."
On Sunday, Moore held his own just like he did in that first start in 2002, his dad's proudest moment.
"I knew once he got set in that first start, he was there to stay," Julius Moore said. "I'm very proud. A lot of light's been shined on him these last few years."
As opposed to the Dec. 27 game at Lucas Oil, when approximately 50 friends and family bussed from Gary to the game, Moore was limited to about a dozen tickets Sunday.
The Super Bowl wasn't meant to be for Moore or his support system this year, but there's good news ahead.
Moore's wife, Regina, his college sweetheart, is five months pregnant with their second child. On Wednesday they'll learn the baby's gender.
Moore has no plans to go to Miami for the festive atmosphere at either the Pro Bowl or Super Bowl. He plans to take a long vacation before resuming offseason activities.
"It's been amazing, unbeatable. It's been pretty surreal," said Regina, a Chicago native and Whitney Young High School grad. "You see all the hard work he's done from college to today. He works really hard and survived three surgeries. Every year is a challenge, and he stands up to it."
This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at paul.trembacki@nwi.com.
