Chad Ochocinco Can't Produce for New England Patriots If He's Not on the Field

There's little argument that Chad Ochocinco isn't producing, but the bigger story is that he's hardly even getting on the field.

I've stayed away from stories on Ocho because even talking about it is a lose-lose. Mentioning his lack of production draws the ire of those who feel three months isn't long enough to grasp the Patriots offense. Urging that he needs more time, however, is met by those who point to the stat sheet as the only necessary evidence of his shortcomings.

When asked directly whether he expected more from Ochocinco in an interview on WEEI, Bill Belichick spoke mainly in generalities about winning ball games as a team. There was one particular sentence that gave a lot of insight into Ochocinco's status with the team.

"If guys are doing their job, then they're gonna play more, they're gonna get more opportunities and get on the field," said Belichick. "If not, somebody else will probably be doing it instead of them."

The key phrase: get on the field. Like it or not, Ochocinco hasn't done that to this point. Penalties included, he played just seven snaps overall against Dallas according to ESPN, and just 33.9 percent of offensive snaps overall according to Pro Football Focus.

Chad is in the unenviable position of trying to live up to the hype when he's not only well behind Wes Welker and Deion Branch in terms of knowledge of the system and cohesion with Tom Brady, but is also a victim of less spread formations and more two tight end sets than in past years. Although Ochocinco is getting more opportunities than Taylor Price and Julian Edelman, that's not exactly praise worthy for a guy making $6 million this year.

In his rare opportunities, Ochocinco has not only failed to live up to the hype, but has failed to even get out of the way. An illegal formation penalty against the Dolphins wiped away a 40-yard reception by Rob Gronkowski. 

This is just speculation, but it sure looked like he ran a lazy route against the Bills that resulted in one of Brady's four interceptions, and then ran the wrong route against the Cowboys, which resulted in an incompletion.

But there's no speculation here: In the trade from Cincinnati to New England, Chad went from being the best receiver in a below-average offense to a below-average receiver in the league's best passing offense.

One defense of Chad to this point has been his crunch-time production, which offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien mentioned in a recent conference call.

"Ocho's progressing every week," said O'Brien. "He's done really well in practice and when he's been in games he's produced—two-minute drives at the end of the half. We're happy with where Ocho is."

Just like with Randy Moss, the Patriots continue to shower him in praise. Unlike Moss, though, the production on the field is almost completely absent. Nine receptions for 136 yards isn't exactly what you expect from a guy with his track record.

On a separate conference call, personnel guru Nick Caserio said, "We're happy with what Chad's done for us. He's probably one of our best practice players."

It's worth mentioning that the consistent theme of both O'Brien and Caserio's comments are his contributions in practice. No one is questioning whether he is putting in the necessary work preparing for games, but with a $6 million salary in 2011, the theme should be production on Sundays.

It hasn't been, and if Ochocinco can't even get on the field, that's not going to change anytime soon.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @erikfrenz.