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The last days of Chad Ochocinco 02.01.12 at 6:31 am ET
By
Chad Ochocinco caught just 15 passes in 2011. (AP)

Chad Ochocinco caught just 15 passes in 2011. (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS — Even when Chad Ochocinco is dull, he’s never really dull.

It was a subdued and, at times, semi-testy (turns out he’s wasn’t thrilled when someone asked a question that might have had something to do with football) Ochocinco at Media Day on Tuesday at Lucas Oil Field. Voice rarely above a whisper, answers short and with the hint of an edge. Ochocinco at Media Day was supposed to be gold for the TV and radio folks, but instead we got a player almost seemingly embarrassed to be part of the event. It made for lousy theater but for a fascinating character study.

Gone were the requests for group hugs. He didn’t tell us if he was still in heaven. We didn’t even get one Child Please.

There were 18 podiums at Media Day, with 17 players and Bill Belichick taking the spots. Ochocinco wasn’t at a podium, but he commanded the fourth-biggest crowd (Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Belichick were the medal winners, and yes, it says plenty about us media weasels that Ochocinco had 50 times the crowd of Kevin Faulk, who is only the most valuable running back in franchise history and is almost certainly playing his last NFL game on Sunday). Strictly on production alone, Ochocinco has done nothing to earn more attention than anyone on the roster. He’s been a bust, a complete and total disaster this season. It just hasn’t worked out.

Call it poor casting, the life of a wide receiver in his 30s, a fear of Tom Brady (my personal choice), but the Chad Ochocinco Experiment has been a failure.

“After a 10-year span, I finally had a year where it didn’t go well,” Ochocinco said on Tuesday during a 30-plus minute session with the media. “The year wasn’t everything I expected or what anyone else expected, but I did what I was supposed to do, worked and stayed quiet and I’m not sure being on this stage would be the reward. There’s nothing else I can do, I’m part of the team and I did everything they’ve asked of me.”

And that’s where it gets tricky. It’s easy to blast Ochocinco for his performance — 15 catches this season, hasn’t been below 53 since his rookie campaign — but not his effort. This isn’t Albert Haynesworth or J.D. Drew. If there was a whiff of Divadom to Ochocinco before he was traded to New England it was left behind in Cincinnati. This isn’t Randy Moss bitching out Bill O’Brien or Haynesworth giving up against the Giants.

He’s put his head down, stopped (OK, slowed down) his tweeting and tried to get in his playbook. By every account, Ochocinco has been a model teammate (“As good as teammate as I’ve ever had in my life,” Julian Edelman said on Tuesday) and has put both his arms around the Patriot Way. Problem is, at least for this team he’s probably not as useful as Tiquan Underwood, let alone Wes Welker and Deion Branch. I don’t know if that’s his fault or not, but it’s reality.

It’s just been mistake after mistake. Poorly run routes, penalties, drops, miscommunication with Brady (who clearly has zero trust in Ochocinco, which is the biggest reason he’s buried on the bench), just a sea of lowlights. No one expected 100 catches for 1,500 yards, but no one expected this, either.

“It’s been an adjustment, the first year in anything is an adjustment,” Ochocinco said. “Getting married is an adjustment, there are adjustments you have to go through in everything. … That’s what I’ve done this year is gone through the adjustments, it took a season of learning the Patriot Way and that’s it.”

Look, there will be no season two for Ochocinco in New England. What’s the point? I think Belichick has seen enough to know it’s just a lousy fit. Sure, it’ll be a salary cap hit (a couple of million bucks) but it has to be done. One thing about Belichick, he’s always known to cut bait before things get nuclear (Moss and Haynesworth as the latest examples). And Ochocinco has said and done all the right things this year and I’ll buy that it’s genuine, but is he still going to feel that way if he’s again a non-factor next season? And is there evidence to suggest that he’ll suddenly steal targets from Welker, Branch, Aaron Hernandez or Gronkowski? Nope.

Chad Ochocinco isn’t going to retire (at least he said it wasn’t a possibility on Tuesday), isn’t ready for a career of pretending to laugh at Michael Strahan‘s jokes or nodding in agreement during another cliche-fest from Tom Jackson. If there was any kind of theme running through Ochocinco’s media session it was this: Despite some evidence to the contrary, he doesn’t think he’s finished as a football player. Could be he’s right, a change of scenery is what’s needed. Maybe he goes to Seattle and catches 50 passes with a quarterback that doesn’t intimidate him with a simple glare.

“It’s football, one abnormal year doesn’t negate years of success,” Ochocinco said. “If I had 100 catches and 1,000 yards, I’d probably be home in January.”

This won’t be J.D. Drew, Redux. If the Patriots beat the Giants it will be the same way they’ve won the other 15 games this season, with zilcho from Ocho. I understand the desire to try to make a connection to Drew’s grand slam, but the reality is a) Drew had a significantly better season in 2007 than Ochocinco in 2011 which meant b) Drew had more chances for that moment. Maybe Ochocinco plays Sunday, maybe he doesn’t, but let’s set the over/under at 4.5 snaps and take the under. He was invisible all season, and he’ll be invisible Sunday.

“Normal, nothing different right now,” Ochocinco said when asked if this week means a change in preparation. “Everything’s the same. Just taking it like a normal day, another day, another week. Just approach it as that.”

And that’s exactly how it will play out, just like a normal NFL Sunday in 2011. Win or lose — and Ochocinco clearly wants a ring badly for himself and his teammates, he’s fully invested if more than slightly frustrated in what has happened — the game will end and Ochocinco will have spent almost all of it on the sideline.

Hard worker, good character guy, all the right intentions. But time to move on.

Welcome to the last Patriots days of Chad Ochocinco.

Read More: Chad Ochocinco, New England Patriots, Super Bowl XL, Tom Brady Print  |  Bark It Up!  |  Digg It
  • Anonymous

    I truly hope that Ocho will be at the Patriots next year. It has been an awful season, but its the kind of player we need, and Bill Belichick knows it, and Patriots way is that is not the player, its the team. Hope the Team support him, and make the cut to the next year.

  • RP

    dont let the door hit you on the way out. I think we can find anyone who can read a playbook and catch 15 pases.

  • Anonymous

    Deion Sanders is so over the top with his “love” and his claiming Ocho his “little brother”. I think half Ocho’s problems are the people he surrounds himself with.

    Chad just because 3 million people follow you on twitter doesn’t mean Jack. It doesn’t make you a better football player or a better person. Why is it these Diva WR’s fade away into a non-exsistance, why not follow the Jerry Rices’ or Wes Welkers and do your talking on the field.

  • PATS312

    Deion’s no friend. He baited him the whole interview,hopping he would say he felt ‘slighted”by not having a podium! Way too much Deion on the NFL channel!

  • Jhhg_gh

    Mini-Cauk at it again. Go piss on your balls, why dont you?

  • Vjklander

    85 only exposes the fact Brady can’t hit a deep route to save his soul ….

  • hooah12

    What are people expecting from Ocho? If the argument is he is not going to get grabs when you have the other four primary recievers in the game, then what would his role be?  Nothing like having a fifth or sixth reciever be Ochocinco.  Let the people who know something about football decide if and how he fits in!  The dude is on our team and if you are a true patriots fan…congrats for being part of the brotherhood.  eff haters..and eff idiot pats fans

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, because we’ve never seen the dude hit a 40 yard bomb to Randy Moss or anything.

  • veet12

    Chad is 100-1 odds on being named MVP of the Super Bowl. If David Tyree can make that stupid catch, Chad can make 4 catches, 3 of them TD’s.
    It’s worth a $20 bet

  • HEYWOOD_JABLOME

    @82314e93206c96d34d68232e013450ca:disqus :
    “85 only exposes the fact Brady can’t hit a deep route to save his soul ….

      Kind of Funny considering that Brady could hit Randy Moss and Deion Branch on those deep routes. 
       No Need for the deep one (except to keep the opposing “D” on their toes) when you have receivers like Gronkowski, Welker,Hernandez,etc tearing up the field with short to intermediate pass routes and giving the opposing defensive backs fits!!!

  • Wha T Rubbish

    R U joking? why do we need a guy who cannot shut up, is way overpaid, and really did noting this year. He took up 5-6 million on the cap and we could have another WR for less that would give us more.
    3 million twitter followers, what does that say about people, get a life, read a book and get a job.

  • Cjf0125

     Go watch Highlights of the 2007 season….you will see just how wrong you are

  • Realitybites

    Ocho Cinco is a class act. Most true fans who understand the game will have an appreciation for Chad. I think he still has a lot to contribute, and I think that he will. I think it’s too early to put him in the coffin just yet. I def think he has more to offer on offense than Edelman. I would not be surprised if they go over the top to him in the SB.

  • Bassman

    Really?  And that Branch over the top touchdown was a screen play.

  • Jarodcore

    hahaha this is the dumbest comment I’ve read today, and I’ve read A LOT of dumb ones. Brady hasn’t had a deep receiver (that can learn the offense) since Moss.

    Moss was with the Pats for 3 seasons:

    Games Played: 48Yards: 3,765
    TD: 47
    AVG LNG: 70.66 Yds

    Yeah, you’re right. Brady “can’t hit a deep route to save his soul”.

  • Steve, not from Fall River

    I’m amazed at the amount of people who support this worthless piece of crap.  He has contributed nothing and took $6 million on the cap. 

    I just heard his girlfriend on the radio saying that they go to the bathroom in front of each other.  I guess I can understand why someone calls him a “class act”.

    They can’t get him out of here fast enough.

  • Noyesmakah

    I think with a FULL year and training camp will help him, he didnt get a full TC this year, so be patient Bill PLEASE he will show his talent, and just wait hes gonna be used in the SB and have at least 3 big plays just wait!!!

  • Steve, not from Fall River

    No one else got a full training camp either.  He’s the only one who couldn’t learn his routes,

  • No-cho

    Ocho won’t be on his best behavior for long.  He talks with Moss and T.O. all the time to keep from blowing up and being the old Chad?  They won’t be able to contain him in 2012.

  • Kern

    There is a trust factor that is achieved in a long-term, stable relationship where the participants are comfortable around each other to the point where natural bodily functions do not register. Class has nothing to do with it….

    Here’s the thing about trust: everybody has to be on board for that thing to float. Welker and Branch (particularly Branch) are in contract years; Brady likes those guys; the last thing Brady wants is for Ocho to waltz in and take reps away from his go to guys. Ocho has been open on lots of plays earlier in the season, Brady chose not to throw his way. Now the team still comes first, so when Branch isn’t in there Ocho gets a touchdown (Denver) or when a big play is needed Ocho’s number is called (Bills, Raiders, Jets), but make no mistake Brady thinks (and he’s right) Ocho will sign on to another team way before Branch will, and for the sake of loyalty and friendship is actively trying to make the lesser of the two receivers look better. (AND I GOT NO PROBLEM WITH THAT)

    In an off-season, as far as talent is concerned, Ocho makes that wide receiver set before any other Patriot (Now I loves me some Welker and I wouldn’t trade him, but trust I, Ocho still got them superior skills….remember, this is that dude, who would tell a pro-bowl DB, what route he was going to run, run that route, and make the catch; Welker can probably do that, Ocho’s done it).

  • Positivemike

    Ocho will be GONZO next year, as well he should be. The dude had a whole season, albeit a shortened preseason to get a grasp and couldn’t cut it. Besides the wrong route running due to not reading the play calls correctly, the guy has shown that he probably doesn’t have the solid hands anymore. Can we tolerate a wideout that will drop 25 per cent of throws that he gets a hand on?Although the guy is definitely faster than Branch, let’s face it, he’s lost more than a step-no yac master here. Who was the other Pats player, 3,4,5 years ago that they quietly let go because he couldn’t grasp the playbook? yeah, like him, Ocho’s toast. Will be surprised if he’s given another chance, a year older and slower.

  • Positivemike

    You’re whacked. Go back to 01 when they were spouting that trash. TB can definitely uncork it when he wants to. If you’re talking about pinpointing the ball with seeing eyes right on the hands with deep ball that’s something else. a few other quarterbacks,as good and not quite as good can do that. Please don’t bring Stinko into the discussion to support your argument, it makes you look foolish..

  • Positivemike

    another brilliant argument from a Stinko tweet follower……….

  • Positivemike

    This stiff COULD redeem himself in THE SHOW. ThaT’S ALL  I care about is the show. There is noone more critical of 85 on the boards than i am, Let the guy suit up and score a touchdown TOWARDS a WIN, or even JUST a critical first down completion and it’s all good. Do you really think Brady would trust him in the show when he didn’t trust him all regular season?

  • Positivemike

    Another twitter follower (denials wont work). I’ll take Edelman any ole day over stinko, please! Oh yeah, heard 85′s most rec ent comments? Telling the assembled reporters/writers that he is “extremely intelligent, extremely intelligent.” How fast he still is, etc. How humble. Aint we lucky to have him. The  guy’s got no y.a.c. in him at all. Jus’ sayin’. let the class act show something in the SHOW……….

  • Positivemike

    Ocho, not a Pats player in the typical mold. He can only do one thing – badly. Very, very badly.

  • LegionOfDo

    And I think this article pretty much guarantees Ochocinco will be Super Bowl MVP.

  • Anonymous

    Sanders and Irvin are so full of themselves. I’m surprised they even have a forum too spew their unintelligible, incoherent drivel.

  • http://www.careforde.com/ Elvia

    Call it poor casting, the life of a wide receiver in his 30s, a fear of Tom Brady (my personal choice), but the Chad Ochocinco Experiment has been a failure.
     

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