Lions' Delmas, Bengals' Ochocinco share in trash talk

Louis Delmas shares the same agent with Cincinnati wide receiver Chad Ochocinco. One day, the agent put the players on the phone together. Naturally, they started talking trash.

“It was fun then, so I know it’s going to be fun now,” Delmas said.

The Lions drafted Delmas in the second round in April and visit the Bengals on Sunday. Delmas will go head-to-head with Ochocinco, a dangerous player and the league’s most outgoing personality.

“Tell him he’s going to get an earful, so wear some earplugs,” Ochocinco said Wednesday in a conference call with Detroit reporters.

Delmas might be a rookie safety on the NFL’s worst pass defense. But he has shown he won’t shy away from anyone. He delivers big hits. He talks big smack. He is often on the edge —sometimes drawing a flag, sometimes not.

Ochocinco offers a unique challenge. Delmas spoke highly of him as a receiver and a wordsmith.

“He’s very fast, and he’s smart,” Delmas said. “He talks a lot. I think one of his professions outside of football, he could be a rapper. He rhymes so good.”
Delmas has been preparing for Ochocinco on both fronts.

“Watching film on him, I’ve been thinking in my mind so much, little things I can say to try to compare to him,” Delmas said. “He’s got so many things that come out and pop out of his head. I’m just going to try to go in there and get in his head as much as possible, even though I know it’s probably going to be impossible to do that.”

“Tell him: Sit down,” Ochocinco said. “Don’t do that … because he’s going to end up having a bad day. You’re not going to beat me at my game.”

Ochocinco game-plans for trash talk, too. He researches hometowns, high schools, family history — whatever might throw someone off. He won’t give a preview for Sunday. He won’t give any great lines of the past. But he will give a rating.

“Remember, I never disrespect an opponent — ever,” Ochocinco said. “So you know it’s PG.”

Ochocinco declined to take shots at the Lions — not even their secondary, an easy target the Bengals likely will exploit Sunday. He called the secondary “beautiful.” (Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the opponent.)