Texans CB Johnathan Joseph Calls T.Y. Hilton a clown

In the lead up to the Colts matchup against the Texans, the tension is beginning to ratchet up as players and coaches prepare for the Saturday afternoon wild card matchup. The Colts and Texans have already played twice this season and split wins.

However, the stakes are much higher now, as the winner will move on and the loser will go home to begin draft prep. It is no surprise then, that Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph found himself speaking to reporters about a comment T.Y. Hilton made after the last meeting between the Colts and Texans when T.Y. referred to NRG Stadium as his “second home.”

Joseph didn’t take kindly to that comment and had words of his own for Hilton.

“Nah, man, that’s for clowns. That’s for TV. That’s what they do. You put something in their face, anybody can say it. Sounds good, it’s easily said. I could easily say that, too. We could call the division our division since I’ve been here, last five out of eight years. It’s not our first rodeo, so we’ll be ready.”

It certainly isn’t Joseph’s first rodeo with T.Y. Hilton. I thought that it made sense given that statement, to show you a few clips of his previous rodeos.

This first clip was early in their first meeting in week 4. Someone here certainly looked like a clown.

The next clip, Joseph seems to forget he is supposed to be covering the Colts’ best receiver and seems to only be playing the seam route. Hilton easily runs the out route for a first down. Whoops.

Okay, so Joseph has been pretty routinely torched by Hilton when he gives him space. Time to rough him up at the line, that’ll show him… Oh no…

Fortunately for Joseph, Hilton banged up his shoulder and didn’t play in the end of that first game. In round two though, he wasn’t so lucky.

Here, Joseph is lined up way off Hilton again, but he has learned his lesson this time. There is absolutely no way he is going to let Hilton take one of those little comeback routes and burn him for a long gain again. Right?

Romeo Crennel graciously gave Joseph a bit of a breather, letting him handle other Colts receivers and keeping him away from Hilton for the next couple series. It gave someone else a chance to wear the clown suit for awhile, and let Joseph get his confidence back. Eventually, though, he got his chance to shine again.

I understand that this is a sensitive issue for Joseph. He is a proud guy and wants to represent his team. We would expect no less from Colts players if there was trash talk being bandied about by opponents. Unfortunately, when you have this much bad tape out there, you really should just let those things go. Otherwise the ghosts of those remarks might come back to haunt you.

Anyone else getting pumped for Saturday?