MIAMI (AP) – Dan Klecko finally has something on his father.

If he never makes another play in the NFL, at least he can tease Joe about this: If the Indianapolis Colts beat Chicago on Sunday, he’ll have three more Super Bowl rings that his dad, who retired with zero.

“When he won the second one, he came home and said, ‘Dad, do you want to try it on?’ ” his father said in a phone interview from the Colts’ team hotel in Fort Lauderdale. “I told him to get it out of there and not to bring it back. It’s a running gag we have going.”

From the time Dan Klecko first remembers watching his father on the football field, he’s tried to duplicate the charismatic, blue-collar personality that made the New York Jets defensive lineman so popular in the NFL’s largest market.

He even took many of the same paths, starting with Temple University, where Joe earned All-America honors and Dan was the Big East’s defensive player of the year. Both started their pro careers in the Northeast, Joe with the Jets, Dan with the New England Patriots. And both eventually wound up in Indianapolis.

The primary difference was that the older Klecko had a prototypical defensive lineman’s body at 6-foot-3, 263 pounds when he entered the league in 1977.

Dan Klecko is a pudgier version. His 5-foot-11, 275-pound frame seems more conducive to fullback than defensive tackle in today’s NFL. He has 33 tackles in four years and one career start.

So when he lumbered toward the end zone in the AFC championship game, it drew a typical family response.

“We went nuts,” Joe said. “It was awesome. My wife and the kids and I, we were all high-fiving each other.”

Joe still has it all over Dan in another category: silver screen appearances.

Dad had modest roles in four Burt Reynolds movies – “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Smokey and the Bandit II,” “The Cannonball Run” and “Heat” – and regular work in commercials.

His son watched them all:

“I think it was so neat to see that,” he said. “I mean, who gets to see your dad on TV?”

Growing up in Colts Neck, N.J., appropriately named for an ex-Indy player and a current one, Klecko emerged as a player in his father’s own image.

Football was his life, and he excelled, too. He set the sacks record (28) at Marlboro High School and was a four-year starter at Temple.

When he got to the NFL, the younger Klecko got lost behind bigger players. The Patriots eventually cut him in September, and the Colts quickly claimed him off waivers.

What coach Tony Dungy liked was Klecko’s versatility, and worked him into the offense.

If growing up a Klecko wasn’t tough enough, imagine what it was like trying to learn all of Peyton Manning’s audibles.

“There’s a lot of stuff to learn. Sometimes, I still look at Joseph or Dominic to get the hand signals,” he said, referring to teammates Addai and Rhodes.

Finally, in the regular-season finale, Manning checked to a fullback swing pass, and Klecko scored on a 2-yard catch.

“He called me that night and said, ‘Hey dad, I scored a touchdown today just like – oh wait a minute, you never scored one,’ ” Joe said.

The Colts use a one-back set almost exclusively, and use Klecko primarily on goal-line plays. He’s never carried the ball, but he does have five career receptions, two for TDs.

Chicago takes a more traditional approach, using another Temple alum, 243-pound Jason McKie, as its lead blocker.

Three players from that same Temple team, Colts defensive tackle Raheem Brock, McKie and Klecko, will hold their own personal reunion Sunday at Dolphin Stadium.

“We had a lot of good guys on our team, and a lot of guys on that team had a chance to make it in the NFL,” McKie said. “Now me, Raheem and Dan are here in Miami about to embark upon the Super Bowl together.”

Win or lose, Klecko knows one thing about his dad.

“I’m finally beating him at something,” he said.

AP-ES-02-02-07 1553EST