Mario Williams was only joking, but apparently he’s needed to get off his chest for a while.

“I told you so,” the Houston Texans defensive end said before doubling over with laughter soon after being selected to his first Pro Bowl on Tuesday.

The selection completes a nearly three-year journey from draft-day laughingstock to starter in the NFL’s all-star game. Williams leads the Texans with 11 sacks and has four forced fumbles this season.

He has been a key in leading the defensive improvement of a team that has won a franchise-record four straight games, capped by Sunday’s 13-12 win over AFC South champion Tennessee.

Andre Johnson, who leads the NFL with 1,408 yards receiving, was also selected. It is the third time he’s been picked and his second as a starter.

When the Texans passed on hometown hero Vince Young and fan favorite Reggie Bush to grab Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in 2006, many declared it the biggest mistake in draft history. Williams was booed by fans on draft day and criticized throughout his rookie season as he finished with 4 1/2 sacks while dealing with a painful foot ailment.

He said he doesn’t hold a grudge against any of the people who criticized him.

“You can’t satisfy everybody and if you’re going to go through the world saying, ‘Oh well I hope they don’t boo me’ or whatever, and worrying about what people are saying, you’re not going to make it too far,” he said. “So my whole thing is that whatever is going to be said is going to be said. Everybody has their own opinion and there’s always two sides to everything.”

Williams is the only one of the top three picks from 2006 to make the Pro Bowl this season, with Young relegated to backup duty and Bush missing four games with a knee injury.

Johnson said he understood why Bush was the fan favorite with all his dazzling highlight reel plays in college, but that Williams has proven his value to the Texans.

“Of course (Bush) had all the hype so everybody was going to want him,” Johnson said. “But Mario, if you ask anybody that was at that game on Sunday who would they want on their team, I bet you they would say Mario Williams.”

Peyton and Eli Manning became the first quarterback-playing brothers chosen for the same all-star game. Peyton will make his ninth appearance in 11 seasons with the Colts and will start for the AFC. It will be the first appearance for the younger Eli, the Super Bowl MVP for the New York Giants who will play for the NFC team.

The Giants also landed the oldest Pro Bowler ever, 44-year-old kicker John Carney, who was signed at the start of the season as a short-term fill-in for the injured Lawrence Tynes. He has made 27 of 29 field goals — the two he missed were blocked — and has kept the now-recovered Tynes inactive for all but two games.

The New York Jets led all teams with seven Pro Bowlers, including quarterback Brett Favre, who will be in his 10th Pro Bowl and his first representing the AFC. There will be six each from the Giants, Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans in the game, to be played on Feb. 8 in Honolulu.

The Titans have the NFL’s best record at 12-2 and won their first 10 games before losing to the Jets.

“If we were the Dallas Cowboys, it would easily be 12 of us going to the Pro Bowl,” said Titans safety Chris Hope. “A lot of people say it’s a small market or we haven’t been around long enough to gain the recognition like the other teams.”

Pittsburgh (11-3) had only three Pro Bowlers: linebackers James Farrior and James Harrison and safety Troy Polamalu.

The starting quarterback for the NFC will be Kurt Warner, who led the Arizona Cardinals to the NFC West title. It will be the 37-year-old Warner’s fourth Pro Bowl but his first since 2001, when he was with St. Louis and made it for the third straight season.

Joining Warner are the Cardinals’ two starting wide receivers, Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, both voted in as starters.

Warner and the 39-year-old Favre, who leads the NFL in interceptions with 17, are far from the oldest Pro Bowlers this year. Those honors go to Carney and 42-year-old Giants punter Jeff Feagles. Carney is 2 years older than another former Pro Bowl kicker, Jan Stenerud, who was 42 when he made it in 1984. Stenerud is the only kicker in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Carney and Feagles also set records for the longest gap ever between Pro Bowl selections: Carney made it in 1994 with San Diego and Feagles in 1995 with Arizona.

The AFC roster contains 17 first-timers while the NFC has 14.

Dallas, which had a record 13 Pro Bowlers when it went 13-3 last season, has five this year — but receiver Terrell Owens and quarterback Tony Romo both missed out.

Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez made his 10th straight Pro Bowl and Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks made it for the 11th time. Brooks had gone to 10 straight Pro Bowls before missing out last season.

Seattle’s only representative is offensive tackle Walter Jones, but he will miss the game after undergoing season-ending knee surgery last week.

Among those who missed out were Miami quarterback Chad Pennington and Atlanta’s John Abraham.

Pennington was released by the Jets after Favre was obtained in a trade and has led the Dolphins, 1-15 last season, to a 9-5 record and a three-way tie for the lead in the AFC East. Abraham, primarily a defensive end, is third in the NFL in sacks with 15.

Pennington lost out to Peyton Manning, Favre and Denver’s Jay Cutler. Abraham was beaten out by the Giants’ Justin Tuck, Carolina’s Julius Peppers and Minnesota’s Jared Allen.

Titans running back Chris Johnson was the only rookie to make the Pro Bowl.

Four teams had no representatives: Cincinnati and Jacksonville in the AFC and St. Louis and winless Detroit in the NFC.