Rodney Harrison Tells Chad Ochocinco to ‘Shut Up,’ Joins Tedy Bruschi in Protecting ‘Old-School Patriots’ Attitude

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Sep 14, 2011

Rodney Harrison Tells Chad Ochocinco to 'Shut Up,' Joins Tedy Bruschi in Protecting 'Old-School Patriots' Attitude For years, Rodney Harrison stood behind Tedy Bruschi on the football field, and he's continuing to do so in retirement.

Bruschi caused quite a stir Tuesday afternoon when he went off on Chad Ochocinco. The Patriots receiver wrote on Twitter that he had "never seen a machine operate like that [in] person" when discussing Tom Brady and the offense. Bruschi didn't like this attitude, as to him, it was the perspective of a fan, not a player.

"Drop the awe factor, OK, Ocho, Chad, drop the awe factor," Bruschi said on WEEI's The Big Show. "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. … 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.

"If you're in it and you know what you're doing and you execute out there, [then] you don't think it's amazing."

The comments have caused a wide range of reactions. Some fans don't think Bruschi should talk about the team anymore, considering he's no longer in the locker room, while others respect his take as a former member of the Patriots dynasty.

Harrison, now an analyst for NBC, is in the latter camp, and he let loose on Ochocinco on Wednesday on The Dan Patrick Show.

"Instead of tweeting … focus on what you can do to get on the field and make us better, make us a more complete team," Harrison said regarding what Ochocinco should be focusing on. "And that's the way the old-school Patriots think. We felt like it was all about the team. It's not about involving the fans, becoming a distraction and being surprised at the fact that we're having success. That team has had success for a long time, and it's no surprise.

"He's been out in Cincinnati and he doesn't understand the Patriot way, and it's been months and months and months now that he's had the opportunity to jump on board," Harrison added. "I just think that Ochocinco needs to focus on less tweeting and more production."

Harrison did say that had Ochocinco been productive in Monday night's win over Miami, then it wouldn't have been a big deal for him to tweet about Tom Brady's offense.

"You gotta ball out," Harrison told Patrick. "It gives you more freedom when you're going out there and putting up numbers. But when you're inactive basically on the sidelines being a benchwarmer and you're not a part of the program and you're not producing, you should shut up.

"Like Bill Belichick always says, if you're not being productive, shut your mouth up and find a way to be productive."

The lesson here is that even though some of the veterans have moved out of the locker room, they still respect the "Patriot Way." If you violate that code, you better get ready to be bashed.

http://www.nesn.com/2011/09/rodney-harrison-tells-chad-ochocinco-to-shut-up-joins-tedy-bruschi-in-protecting-old-school-patriots.html
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