Chad Ochocinco was brought to Foxoboro to make Tom Brady's professional life a little easier. That's hardly a stretch given that he was a perennial Pro Bowler during his nine-year Bengals career.
But it's slow-going for the 10-year NFL veteran. He joined the Pats just prior to training camp and he's still trying to learn the offense while also working to get more comfortable with Brady. To date it's been tough sledding.
“I’m just nowhere near where I want to be. I’m my biggest critic anyway,’’ Ochocinco to the Boston Globe Tuesday. “Regardless of what you write, what you guys see - I’m the first to judge myself. I’m always aiming for perfection and one of those things about being here, about being in an organization like this, that prides itself on perfection and excellence, you know, I’m sort of putting the pressure on myself to be right and be perfect now. Not later.
“I’m trying to squeeze everything within a short time frame. And it’s somewhat impossible but if I can aim to be as perfect as possible, I think I’ll get up to speed.’’
If nothing else, it should give you some indication just how tough it is to learn an entirely new system in barely a month, even for a grizzled NFL player whose had plenty of previous success. But just like the rookies who didn't have the benefit of OTAs and minicamps, Ochocinco's progress in a new system has suffered from the lack of team practices.
“The transition has been good; it’s been fun. I’ve heard small little rumblings that I hadn’t caught on yet, but it’s been just fine,’’ he said. “Not sure why or how it is, but coming from any place where you’ve been somewhere 10 years to come here and learn the verbiage and learn as much as I’ve learned in the past two weeks, I’ve done extremely well. It’s been fun; it’s been enjoyable working with the entire offense.’’
For now, he continues to learn the playbook and tries to get better. Whether it'll be enough to be the Pats' No. 2 wide receiver when the season begins remains to be seen. The Globe's Greg Bedard tweeted Wednesday that "Instead of Ocho being the No. 2 from the get-go, that may have to wait until after the bye. He'll be given what he can do until then."
As long as Brady's under center, the Patriots will be fine. If Ochocinco continues to improve as the season progresses, even better.
