Heading to Canton | Andre Johnson’s career highlights

HOUSTON — Andre Johnson is heading to Canton, Ohio, where his bronze bust will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Other players have played on the Texans and eventually been named to the Hall of Fame, but none have spent the majority of their career playing home games on Kirby Drive.

On Saturday, Aug. 3, Johnson will make his acceptance speech and be inducted into the Mecca of football history.

Johnson spent most of his career with the Houston Texans — 12 of his 14 NFL seasons. He was a fan-favorite from day one thanks to his workmanlike demeanor and domination on the gridiron. His chiseled 6-foot, 3-inch frame coupled with 230 pounds of solid muscle allowed Johnson to become one of the NFL’s most accomplished receivers in history.

The soft-spoken wideout was Houston’s first-round pick in the 2003 NFL Draft. The Texans took him third overall that year to pair him with the franchise’s first-ever draft pick the season prior — quarterback David Carr — who went No. 1 overall in the 2002 NFL Draft.

Johnson’s highlight reel is long, but some moments stood out throughout his career.

Here’s a look at some of them.

In five days in 2012, Johnson proved how unstoppable he was.

On Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012, the Texans hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10 of the NFL season. Houston entered the game 8-1 while the Jags were 1-8, but as we all know, division games in the NFL are never easy.

Even with the Texans as a 15.5-point favorite, Jacksonville forced overtime. But that’s not what we’re here to discuss.

Johnson exerted his dominance throughout the game, racking up 14 catches on 19 targets. He amassed 273 yards, a career-high for a single game. Most importantly, Johnson’s 48-yard TD on a screen play in overtime sealed the win for Houston.

On the game’s first drive, Matt Schaub targeted Johnson on three straight plays, picking up 7 yards, 22 yards and 45 yards. That was the extent of his first-quarter production, but Johnson accounted for 58 receiving yards in the second quarter. After being held without a catch in the third quarter, Johnson flipped a switch.

He was responsible for 82 receiving yards in the final quarter of regulation, but Shayne Graham missed a game-winning 47-yard field goal attempt in the closing seconds, meaning an extra period would be needed to determine a winner.

Johnson had an 11-yard catch on the first play of overtime but the Texans ended up settling for a field goal, which allowed the Jaguars to tie with a kick of their own.

When the Texans got the ball back with about 2:30 minutes left in overtime, Matt Schaub hit Johnson on a screen pass and #80 did the rest, taking it to the end zone for a walkoff win.

It’s No. 1 in the video below.

Houston beat Jacksonville that Sunday and they drew the Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit four days later. Even after the overtime victory over the Jags, Johnson proved to have plenty left in the tank.

After a first quarter in which he was held without a catch against the Lions, Johnson came alive. He hauled in a 37-yard catch and a 43-yard catch in the second quarter, both of which set up touchdowns for Houston.

In the fourth quarter, with Houston trailing by 7, Schaub found Johnson four times for 64 yards on the game-tying touchdown drive.

In overtime for the second week in a row, Schaub hit Johnson for 23 yards to set up a game-winning field goal.

In total, Johnson hauled in 9 catches for 188 yards in the victory.

The Texans went 12-4 that season, winning the AFC South. They won the Wild Card game against the Bengals before falling to the Patriots in the Divisional Round.

In 2013, Johnson was 32 but was still able to put up one of his best statistical seasons. On the year, he hauled in 109 catches for 1,407 yards and 5 touchdowns.

A Week 10 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals meant that Johnson would be covered by All-Pro cornerback Patrick Peterson, who was 23 years old and in the prime of his career.

Case Keenum started the game for Houston, who ended up 2-14 on the season. This was the year the team moved on from Gary Kubiak and Wade Phillips took over for the final games of the regular season.

Against the Cardinals and Peterson, Johnson showed why he was still one of the best in the game.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but with about 6 minutes to go in the opening quarter of play, Keenum hit Johnson for a toe-tapping touchdown on the right side of the end zone to tie it up. Peterson was in coverage and couldn’t believe Johnson made the catch, demonstrably signaling the incomplete hand signs to the referees, but to no avail.

That catch is No. 8 in the video below.

Then, it happened. In the fourth quarter with 4:39 left in the game and Houston trailing by 10, Keenum took a shotgun snap on third down with Johnson in one-on-one coverage with Peterson to his left.

From 5 yards out, Keenum threw a dart to the corner of the end zone. It hit Peterson’s hand but Johnson was able to take it away and get both feet down for the touchdown.

Three Cardinals defenders stood in awe as the referees held their hands up to signal the score.

It was one of the most incredible catches of Johnson’s career and likely one of the more incredible touchdown catches in NFL history.

It’s No. 2 in the video below.

It was also the day Johnson moved into 19th place on the all-time NFL receiving yards list, passing Hines Ward.

In Week 3 of the 2010 season, the Texans visited Washington for what would end up being one of the best regular season games in franchise history.

The Texans trailed by 17 as the third quarter was coming to a close. Schaub hit Kevin Walter on the final play of the quarter to cut the lead to 10, but Houston took over in the fourth quarter before eventually winning the game in overtime.

The play of the game, however, happened with just over 2 minutes remaining and Houston down seven.

On 4th and 10, Schaub took the shotgun snap from the Washington 34-yard line and moved slightly to his right before stepping up in the pocket.

He then threw on the run to the left side of the end zone, where Johnson was waiting, pretty much flat-footed with a defender draped on him as he turned to the ball, leaped and came down with the touchdown.

He got up and emphatically spiked the ball and the Texans made the PAT to tie the game and force OT.

A field goal in overtime sealed the win for Houston but it wouldn’t have been possible without #80’s clutch fourth-down touchdown catch.

It’s No. 5 in the video below.

In Week 5 of the 2009 season, Johnson again proved to the world that he was one of the most dominant receivers in the game.

Houston was trailing Arizona by seven with just over 7 minutes left in the game when Schaub took a snap on 1st and 10 from the 17-yard line.

Schaub dropped back and just before he took a hit, fired to Johnson in the middle of the field.

Johnson pulled in the catch and immediately collided with a defender at the 5-yard line.

That initial defender bounced off Johnson as if he was wearing rubber pads — it looked like a superhero deflecting a villain. Johnson stayed on his feet and continued toward the goal line, where two more Cardinals defenders were waiting with intentions of keeping him out of the end zone.

Johnson lowered his shoulder and bounced off the first defender who tried to stop him and spun into the other defender, who was also unsuccessful in keeping #80 shy of the goal line.

The play is No. 6 in the video below.

This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the time Johnson lost his cool in a division game against the Tennessee Titans.

Cortland Finnegan was the unlucky soul who suffered at the hands of the Hall of Famer, literally.

It was Week 12 of the 2010 season. In the fourth quarter of a game the Texans had in hand up 17-0, a simple handoff to Arian Foster proved to be the beginning of an unfortunate series of events.

On 2nd and 8, Foster carried for no gain, but Johnson was blocking Finnegan, who ended up taking his helmet off after being contained by Johnson.

On the next play, Johnson and Finnegan were once again lined up against each other. It was another handoff, but Finnegan fired off the line and threw his hands straight into Johnson’s face and neck area.

Then, it happened.

Johnson ripped Finnegan’s helmet off and Finnegan threw a punch at Johnson, who still had his helmet on.

A little spinning ensued and Finnegan got ahold of Johnson’s facemask and ripped his helmet off and threw it down the field.

Johnson got ahold of Finnegan’s uniform and threw him to the ground before throwing multiple punches, connecting on Finnegan’s head a couple of times.

Both players were ejected but the incident left a lasting impression on fans because Johnson never before or after acted the way he did that day on the field.