Chad Johnson Roasts Himself Yet Again For His Disappointing Patriots Career
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- By most any measure, Chad Johnson -- aka Ochocinco -- had himself an excellent NFL career. He ranks 36th in NFL history in receiving yards, 51st in receiving touchdowns, and 37th in receptions. He may have come up just shy of earning that gold jacket that he promised, but the six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro will be remembered as much for his performance on the field as he will for his personality off the field.
All of that is undeniably true, but there's still no shine that can be placed on his brief tenure with the Patriots. It stunk.
Acquired prior to the 2011 season for a pair of late-round picks, Ochocinco was expected to become a reliable downfield weapon for Tom Brady to utilize. Instead, he struggled to grasp the offense, and he caught just 15 passes for 276 yards and a touchdown all season long. He went from averaging more than 75 receiving yards per game in the previous nine seasons to averaging just 18.4 yards per game with New England.
He was inactive in the AFC Championship Game that year, before making one catch for 21 yards in the Super Bowl loss to the Giants. And then his career was over.
And while Johnson has gone many places since leaving the NFL, the one place he's not living is in denial. Whenever given the opportunity (but more often out of the blue), Ocho has freely taken shots at himself for failing to perform with the Patriots.
The 43-year-old did so again this week, when someone on Twitter asked him if there's anything that he's not good at.
"Playing on the Patriots," he succinctly replied.
That was a bit of a random tweet for March 10, 2021. No doubt. But in searching through his Twitter history, it's a common theme. Just look.
While Johnson is always quick with a joke, that kind of self-deprecation isn't always common among athletes of his caliber. It all just goes to show that just like when he was in the NFL, Chad Johnson is just different.
