Last Thursday on the Texans Wire’s Texans Talk Podcast, hosts Mark Lane and John Crumpler were able to sit down with two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Johnathan Joseph and discuss his tenure with the Houston Texans.
Joseph played a decade in Houston from 2011-2019 after being drafted in the first round by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2006 and is arguably the greatest corner in Texans history. He played a premier role atop the corner depth chart during the team’s first division championships and some of the best defenses of the past ten years.
As such, it was only appropriate to ask Joseph what his favorite memory was playing with the Texans. His answer, despite both team and individual success, spoke to just how talented he believed the defenses to be during his time
“Honestly winning the first playoff game and obviously winning the division. Just being on the team with guys like J.J. Watt, DeAndre Hopkins, [Jadeveon] Clowney, Brian Cushing, Kareem Jackson, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson. I don’t just want to start naming off guys because there’s too many. Antonio Smith, Connor Barwin, Wade Smith, Duane Brown, when I start naming those guys first thing, I get pissed about is how we had all those players and didn’t make it to a Super Bowl… My memory is just being with those guys and transforming how the Texans were viewed through the NFL
Joseph and his team of extremely talented defenders certainly did transform how the new franchise in Houston was viewed around the league. After winning the AFC South a grand total of zero times from their establishment in 2003 all the way up to 2010, the Texans captured six division titles during 2011 and brought Houston back to the NFL playoffs for the first time since the Houston Oilers in 1993.
The all-star caliber cast in Houston likely leaves a sour taste in the mouth of everyone involved that they were never able to advance to the AFC Championship Game or to football’s premier game in the Super Bowl. Unfortunate and untimely injuries to players like Matt Schaub and Deshaun Watson made that quite difficult.
Now, it’s up to a new era of Texans players and a new era of Houston cornerbacks to try to pilot the defense back to what it once was. Fans will have to see if first round draft pick Derek Stingley can elevate to the heights that Joseph achieved.