After Texans cornerback Johnathan Joseph said T.Y. Hilton‘s trash talk was for “clowns,” the Colts receiver showed up to Sunday’s game wearing a clown mask.
“I looked back and said, ‘Oh, s—!” quarterback Andrew Luck said upon seeing the mask. “T.Y. is awesome. T.Y. knows how to have fun and still prepare like a pro.”
Hilton referred to NRG Stadium as his “second home” after a Dec. 9 game before adding last week that his injured ankle was feeling better because he was heading to Houston to play the Texans. That didn’t sit well with Joseph, who responded “that’s for clowns; that’s for TV.”
Hilton sent a trainer to Party City in Houston on Saturday morning to buy a clown mask. He said he got the last one in the store, calling it a “lucky charm.”
Hilton wore it into the stadium and displayed it again after the game.
“The mask is about to be retired, gotta love Party City,” Hilton said, via Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. “I got a lot of messages about what he said. It was something that I wanted to have fun with. It’s over; I always do my talking on the field.
“I’m not a big talker. I don’t jaw off. I just go out there and do my job and do what my teammates need me to do, and we got a win.”
The mask didn’t sit well with the Texans.
“It’s disrespectful,” Texans cornerback Shareece Wright said. “It definitely pissed us off, but we didn’t make him pay for it. We should have. I thought that guy was crazy for him to do that.
“It’s disrespectful, but we can’t allow a guy to come in here and do that and then win. It’s not even about that. You kind of forget about that stuff during the game. You’re trying to get a win, and that’s what we didn’t do.”
Hilton made five catches for 85 yards, giving him 18 receptions for 399 yards in three games this season. In 15 career games against them, Hilton has 80 catches for 1,505 yards and nine touchdowns.
Julio Jones is the only active receiver with bigger numbers against a single team, with 102 catches for 1,695 yards and 11 touchdowns in 14 games against the Buccaneers.