FOXBORO — When he moves into a new city, Chad Ochocinco doesn’t use a GPS. He leaves the Garmin or TomTom turned off, preferring to cruise around on his own, making wrong turns and asking for directions.
It’s how he learns, while entertaining his millions of Twitter followers with his adventures.
“I get lost a lot,” the newest Patriots receiver said. “It’s been fun. This past weekend I was a little frustrated because I lost about an hour, and I couldn’t get where I needed to. Other than that, Boston — actually, heaven — has been good.”
Ochocinco is wading through the Patriots plays similarly. He had quarterback Tom Brady’s hand signals down quickly, but the playbook makes a street map of greater Boston seem like it’s on a grid.
He’s run wrong routes and dropped passes (“I’m human,” he said) while his brain continued to deal with the flood of new information after 10 years in the boring Bengals offense. He’s gone from play calls based in numbers to ones based in words, and it’s not easy.
But just like his tours of his new city, he eventually lands at his destination. The drops have dissipated, as have the miscommunications thanks to help from new teammates Deion Branch and Wes Welker.
“The transition in heaven has been pretty good. It’s surprising that I’ve caught on to so much material in so short a time,” said Ochocinco, who arrived in a trade July 28. “Of course, (Welker and Branch) probably made it the easiest. With so much verbiage as far as signals, it’s hard for me to get. With those two, including Tom, they’ve sped up the process to where I could probably go out there and play at full speed without having to think.”
That time is coming. The former Pro Bowl receiver is looking to revive his career, and he’s looking for a ring.
Both goals could be accomplished with the Patriots. He’s reveling in that fact. Ochocinco called working with Brady “really, really cool” and has limited his interaction on Twitter — aside from detailing his Prius-driving ways.
“A lot of (followers) are upset, and we all know why,” Ochocinco said with a smile.
He knows why, too. Antics aren’t appreciated at 1 Patriot Place, but winning is. It’s that way for the entire city, which Ochocinco no doubt discovered during his travels.
“You have to do it the Patriot Way,” said the 33-year-old, who attended a Red Sox-Yankees game Sunday night at Fenway Park with his fiancee, Evelyn. “One thing about this city and their sports, all they do is win. That stuff that I did in the past, there’s no need for it.”
Instead, he’s been studious, saving his energy for his on-field education. He hopes to get to a point where he can merely look into Brady’s eyes to figure out his adjustment.
“He’s been in one offense for a long time, so to try to come to a new offense and learn everything we do it’s challenging for anybody and to do it on such short notice is another thing,” Brady said. “But he’s working hard at it, and we’re working hard to be on the same page.”
In a crowded receivers group, Ochocinco still stands out. Offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien has lauded his attentiveness in meeting rooms and on the field.
“He’s a competitive guy,” O’Brien said, “and he takes a lot of pride in it.”
Sure, he’s still his old self. Ochocinco joked (maybe) that he wants to live with a fan for a few weeks and complained that people give him too much flak about his Prius. But football is on his mind more than ever. It starts tomorrow night against Jacksonville, but it continues every single day on the fields adjacent to the stadium.
“What’s important for me is practice out here,” Ochocinco said. “The preseason is important to a certain extent, but I think most of my quality work comes out here on the field with these guys.”
