T.Y. Hilton Retires Clown Mask After Colts Defeat Texans to Advance in Playoffs

The clown mask is not going to be this year's underdog mask.

When wide receiver T.Y. Hilton arrived in Houston for the Colts' wild-card playoff game against the Texans, he was wearing a clown mask in response to Houston cornerback Johnathan Joseph's comments.

"Nah man, that's for clowns," Joseph said in response to Hilton calling the Texans' NRG Stadium his "second home" after catching nine passes for 199 yards in a win there earlier this season. "That's for TV. That's what they do. You put something in their face, anybody can say it."

Johnathan Joseph called T.Y. Hilton a clown earlier this week.

T.Y. has leaned in. 🤡

(via @Colts) pic.twitter.com/B66Kk7p5Tk

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 5, 2019

In Saturday's 21-7 win, Hilton caught five passes for 85 yards.

Well, that didn't take very long

(h/t @BSO) pic.twitter.com/G8R2tOIaq0

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 5, 2019

But after the game, he also said he was not going to keep showing up to postseason games with the party favor he had trainers get him from Party City.

"I got a lot of messages last night with what (Joseph) said," Hilton said according to NFL.com. "I said, you know what, let's have fun with it. So it was something I did, I wanted to have fun with it, but now it's over.

"I wanted to have fun. My teammates, they look for me for a lot of stuff. I wanted to go out here and set the tone. I didn't want to be a distraction. Once I got here, I wanted to let them know I'm totally focused. Even though I did that and said what is said, my focus is I'm here for y'all."

Although Hilton is no longer wearing the mask, that didn't stop one of his children from donning it.

Look what i wake up to this morning 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 I’m crying 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/v6Rti5Ai9V

— TY Hilton (@TYHilton13) January 6, 2019

The Colts will face the Chiefs next week in the divisional round.