For the first time since their high school track meets in Bassfield, Mississippi, A.J. and C.J. Moore will compete against each other when the Houston Texans face the Detroit Lions this week.
"It's amazing man," A.J. Moore said. "It's a dream come true. Definitely been looking forward to this our whole life ever since we put on shoulder pads and a helmet. It's finally going to happen."
The identical twin brothers, Texans safety A.J. and Lions safety C.J. Moore, are just one of six pairs of twins currently in the NFL.
Their careers began at the age of five, after receiving their first set of football pads. The Moore boys grew up playing football in their Mississippi backyard with their dad and their uncle, and mostly for the same team throughout school. In fact, they even attended the University of Mississippi together where the safeties played four seasons (2014-17) before parting ways to the NFL.
A.J. Moore, initially signed by the New England Patriots as a college free agent in 2018, led the Texans in special teams tackles in back-to-back seasons (2018-19). This season, he missed five games while on Injured Reserve after suffering an injury in Week 3 at Pittsburgh. Moore returned to the lineup this past Sunday, taking defensive snaps and contributing on special teams in the Texans' 27-20 win over the Patriots.
On Thursday, the twins will play in one of the most anticipated games of the regular season, the nationally-televised Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.
"It feels great, it's super exciting," C.J. Moore said in an interview with Texans TV. "It's something we've always dreamed about and to be playing on Thanksgiving Day, big tradition for us here in Detroit against my twin bro, like I said, it's a blessing and I'm looking forward to it."
"I mean, just the national television part, Thanksgiving Day, that just pretty much is the icing on the cake," A.J. Moore said. "It really doesn't get any better than that. Just for us to go out there and do something that we love and to be able to put on for our family, our town, for ourselves, it just means the world to us."
The Texans will kick off against the Lions on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. CT on CBS and SportsRadio 610.
