Elijah Moore thrilled to make his first TD catch of season
Elijah Moore of the Jets carries a reception into the end zone for a third-quarter touchdown against Elijah Hicks of the Bears at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Elijah Moore was five weeks removed from his low point in the NFL, when — after asking for a trade and being kicked out of practice — he was left behind as the Jets traveled to Denver.
But there he was on Sunday, so excited after a 22-yard reception for his first touchdown of the season that he ran the length of the end zone looking for hugs.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Moore said after the Jets’ 31-10 victory over the Bears. “I was just filled with joy and I started running. I was just thankful.”
After a promising rookie season in which he had five receiving touchdowns, 2022 got off to an awful start for Moore, whose role dwindled to nonexistent.
He complained on social media after getting no targets against the Packers on Oct. 16, then let it be known he wanted out.
Moore had no catches in his first two games back and had two for 17 yards against the Patriots last week.
Then came Sunday, with a new quarterback in Mike White and a new lease on his professional life.
It began with a 42-yard pass play in the second quarter on which Moore bounced off a would-be tackler.
In the third, he was open in the end zone for the 22-yarder that made the score 24-10.
“At the end of the day, everyone is going to go through something, and this is my story,” he said. “I’m just thankful that this is how it’s going to be written . . . I’m just grateful I get to stand up here today and be the person I know I am and contribute to a winning game.”
Coach Robert Saleh said: “He’s always been a great kid. I know that whatever happened with the trade request, that’s not him.
“I feel like he’s been working his tail off being patient and just trusting the process and focusing on the things that he’s got control over.”
Fellow receiver Garrett Wilson said Moore’s teammates always supported him, even during last month’s trade request drama.
“That’s a really good teammate,” Wilson said. “That’s a really good player, and to see him get what he deserves today, that was really exciting.”
Moore said he had a conversation with a football on Saturday that helped.
“I was talking to the ball and I was like, ‘[expletive], you already know how I feel about you,’ ” he said.
“I was kissing her and I was telling her ‘it’s going to be soon; it’s going to happen soon. Just be patient. It’s going to come.’ You don’t weather the storm, you become the storm.”
Did the football respond? “She told me she loved me,” Moore said, “and she wanted to get back to it.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
