I was surprised (1) that this story has even happened (2) that it's still a story and (3) that there wasn't a thread here discussing it (despite the fact that it concerns our most hated rival). Just wanted to pick the collective thoughts here on this flap. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/13/tedy-bruschi-tees-off-on-ochocinco/ Tedy Bruschi tees off on Ochocinco Posted by Mike Florio on September 13, 2011, 11:13 PM EDT Getty ImagesPatriots quarterback Tom Brady generated 517 passing yards on Monday night. Subtracting the contributions from Patriots receiver Chad Ochocinco, Brady still had more than 500 yards. On Tuesday, Ochocinco posted an item on Twitter suggesting that he was in awe of the team’s performance on offense. Former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi wasn’t in awe of Ochocinco’s tweet. Tedy teed off on Ochocinco during a visit to WEEI, via Tom Curran of CSNNE.com. “Drop the awe factor, OK, Ocho, Chad, drop the awe factor,” Bruschi said. “You’re not a fan, all right. You’re not someone who’s on another team or watching TV. You’re not an analyst. You’re a part of it. They want you to be a part of it. So get with the program because obviously you’re not getting it and you’re tweeting because you’re saying, ‘It’s amazing to see’? It’s amazing to see because you don’t understand it. You still don’t understand it and it’s amazing to you because you can’t get it. “Stop tweeting and get in your playbook. Wake up! If you’re just waking up now — I don’t know when this was, six minutes ago? — get out your bed and get to the stadium and watch some film if you still think it’s amazing. If you’re in it and you know what you’re doing and you execute out there you don’t think it’s amazing. You know why? Because it’s what you’re supposed to do. All of a sudden it’s second nature. ‘I know I was supposed do that, yes I went 99 yards, I threw for 517. You know why? Because we’re that good and that’s what we’re supposed to do and that’s what I thought we were gonna do.’ You are still in awe to be a member of the New England Patriots offense. Join the system, buddy.” So what’s the solution? “They need him to be a part of that jaw dropping offense,” Bruschi said. “Close your mouth. Put your hand under your chin and close your jaw. Then open your eyes and watch some film. That’s what you need to do. If you’re still in awe that means you don’t get it because you don’t understand it.” Bruschi’s attitude comes from years in the Patriots’ system. So it’s fair to conclude that at least some of the players on the team — and maybe the head coach — agree with Bruschi’s attitude. And so it’ll be interesting to see how things go for Ochocinco moving forward.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/14/rodney-harrison-agrees-with-bruschi-on-ochocinco/#comments Rodney Harrison agrees with Bruschi on Ochocinco Posted by Mike Florio on September 14, 2011, 7:30 PM EDT APOn Tuesday, former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi tore into new Patriots wideout Chad Ochocinco, based on a Twitter message in which Ochocinco indicated that he was in awe of the New England offense. Appearing on The Waddle & Silvy Show on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, former Patriots safety and current NBC Football Night in America analyst Rodney Harrison agreed with Bruschi’s comments. “You got to understand. Bruschi is an old school Patriot guy,” Rodney said. “I mean the guy went to three or four, four Super Bowls, won 3 there. And he’s an old school Patriot guy, I mean he’s a die hard guy. No one outprepares Tedy Bruschi, no one outworks Tedy Bruschi. When I was there I was never in awe, of anything. Because you expect greatness, when you prepare, when you work hard, and when you do the things you’re supposed to do. You expect to have success. “When we stopped Peyton Manning in the playoffs, and we’d intercept him, we weren’t in awe of Peyton Manning. We knew we could go out there and stop him, because that’s what we prepared for. So you look at a guy like Chad Ochoinco, you know that becomes a distraction when you’re tweeting and you’re bringing the fans into the mix. And [Bill] Belichick would always tell us, there’s always something else you can do improve this team, to improve your play. Study more, work harder. Be an asset, don’t be a liability. “And when you look at Chad Ochocinco’s stats, one catch for 14 yards, that’s unacceptable. And when they were doing all these productive plays, you were on the bench. Tedy’s just like me, and Willie McGinest and all these other guys. Don’t be in awe of the situation, be part of that situation. Make it better. So I think Tedy Bruschi sent a message out to that entire New England Patriot team. This is a different team, they’re a younger team. So Chad Ochocinco, get with the program. He told him exactly right. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Belichick even pulled him to the side. “You can’t be in awe of Tom Brady and these guys. You’ve seen this happen in a short training camp. You know, you’ve played against Brady. You played against a lot of these championship teams. Why are you in awe? It just becomes a distraction. Like Tedy said, ‘Hey man, be part of the program.’” Ochocinco has been silent on Twitter since the Tuesday remark that set Bruschi off. And given Ochocinco’s usual loquaciousness, his silence speaks volumes.
I got the impression that he was just trying to be supportive of his team. I don't think a guy who has been in the league forever needs to be told to watch film.
Exactly right. As somebody else on ESPN said yesterday, Bruschi's problem with 85 isn't that tweet, it's much deeper than that and he should just be man enough to come out and say what it is. This rant was ridiculous.
I guess that's where I'm confused. What was the deeper thing. And Harrison chimed in on it too, and I just don't get it.
Not sure where this is coming from. Though everyone else on the team towed the party line that they were a long way from being a really good team right now. I do think Ocho was trying to just be positive, but it didn't go over good obviously. On Comcast's Pats show last night Troy Brown was pretty critical of Ocho also. He said that it's obvious Brady has no faith in Ocho, and that lost in all the points scored, Chad was less than a non-factor, he also cost the team a big gain by not knowing how to line up on a play. Not a lot of love for this guy from ex-Pats players. Of course it's been nothing but positives from the current players and coaches, which is to be expected.
Patriots coaches push Ochocinco to learn offense faster The ex-players must be hearing stuff from guys on the team.... Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on September 15, 2011, 11:54 AM EDT APChad Ochocinco has yet to respond to the seemingly over-the-top criticism from Tedy Bruschi. Ocho’s usually active Twitter account has been dormant. During Wednesday’s locker room media time, Ochocinco was absent. Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com points out this is a change from Ocho’s normal routine. (He’s openly courted the Patriots media with effectiveness.) Reiss thinks how Ochocinco reacts to the firestorm will be telling. We could be entering a crucial phase of Ochocinco’s tenure with the team. While the Patriots don’t need Ochocinco to be a No. 1 receiver, they expect production considering the signing bonus they gave him in August. Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald writes that the coaching staff has “turned up the heat on Ochocinco” to pick up the offense quicker. “Everyone has an opinion on everything, and none of it really means anything,” Tom Brady said. “The only thing that means anything are the guys in this locker room and what we do every day in practice.” The Patriots coaching philosophy is to endlessly apply pressure internally so that players are more prepared for what comes on Sundays. Guys that can’t keep up ultimately get left behind.
Fellow ESPN employee Stephen A Smith blew up Bruschi on his radio show regarding this. it was a thing of beauty.
Stephen A Smith has no happy medium. hes either dead on or dead wrong, least my experience with him. but he reminds me of Michael Irvin in the sense they think the more volume you have the more sense your making.
This rant is so off base that I don't even know where to begin. To put it simply: he's in awe of Brady because Brady is fucking good, not because he doesn't understand the Patriots offense. This is just a case of faded stars trying to remind everybody of "THE PATRIOT WAY" because it makes Bruschi and Harrison's careers look better in retrospect, and it fluffs up the organization (obviously if anything goes wrong this season its because 85 is lazy, not because the team is flawed) which will help ESPN get access.
Some of you may remember that the Patriots were more successful back a few years ago when they had more success.
it takes 10 seconds to write a tweet, so the stupidity of bruschi saying "go watch film instead of tweeting" can't be overstated. i love bruschi as an analyst, but he's so out of bounds here it's not even funny.
Brady defends Ocho During the interview, Brady again defended teammate Chad Ochocinco, who came under fire earlier this week from ESPN Boston analyst Tedy Bruschi and others for his tweet about being impressed by the Patriots’ Week 1 offensive explosion. “I love Tedy, he’s one of my great friends. But honestly, none of those guys have any clue what they’re talking about,” Brady said. “They’re outside of the locker room. They don’t know what we’re trying to accomplish ... they don’t know. Everybody can think what they want to think and say what they want to say ... the only people that it really matters to are the guys that are inside the locker room. We support each other because we rely on each other. Every single player that’s on the team is counted on to help us win.”
