But Ochocinco isn’t going anywhere, according to two league sources.
Nor should he be.
What many saw to be the height of frustration in the Ocho experiment in the 24-20 loss to the Giants actually represented the greatest hope for him to contribute.
Ochocinco might not have any monster days ahead, but he and Tom Brady are very close to getting on the same page. Ochocinco played much faster against the Giants. He is clearly getting the playbook down, finally.
But the initial routes are only half the battle when it comes to being a receiver in this offense. Making in-play adjustments according to where the defenders are is just as important.
And now it’s on Ochocinco, Brady, offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, and receivers coach Chad O’Shea - one of the few assistants with NFL coaching experience outside the Belichick tree - to get him there.
But there is hope when you look at Ochocinco’s play against the Giants. Not only was he open a handful of times when Brady didn’t throw him the ball, Ochocinco was close on the five passes thrown his way.
On the first, with 8:39 left in the third quarter, Ochocinco caught the ball out of bounds because Brady threw it late after he was hurried.
Two plays later, Ochocinco ran a terrific post route but Brady threw much too late, which allowed cornerback Corey Webster to deflect a would-be touchdown.
On the final play of that drive, Ochocinco made a great move to get past the press coverage of cornerback Michael Coe, but Coe simply made a terrific play to deflect the ball away.
The final two plays showed where Ochocinco has to grow to be a part of this offense.
With 9:13 left in the fourth quarter, he was able to get free from Coe on an out pattern, but Brady already had thrown the ball. Ochocinco has to get out of his break (the move at the top of the route) much quicker. Instead of bodying up Coe, Ochocinco needs to be able to get into and out of the defender without much contact, which slows him down. He can do that by being more precise with his cuts.
