INDIANAPOLIS — Nothing Chad Ochocinco has ever said has been more surprising.

Caught in a crush of people with cameras, microphones and open notebooks at Tuesday’s Media Day for Super Bowl XLVI, Ochocinco — once the record-setting receiver and chatterbox of the Cincinnati Bengals, now the barely-used pass catcher for the AFC champion New England Patriots — was asked what he had learned about himself this season.

“That I can actually shut the #%&# up,” he said with a shrug.

The response got a laugh...one of the few he drew all day.

For so long one of pro football’s most flamboyant provocateurs, Ochocinco is now the soft-spoken straight man of the Super Bowl.

The usual cast of sideshow characters showed up for Media Day at Lucas Oil Stadium — buxom, barely-clad gals asking flirtatious questions, a dorky guy in a green-and-gold cape and a black mask, another in a leather helmet and knickers — and this time thousands of cheering fans were allowed to sit in the stands and take in the show, as well.

In the middle of this carnival, Ochocinco proved to be one of the most subdued — sometimes almost dull — to take part.

Because he’s changed his name to his Spanish number, follows soccer, visits Mexico and Spain and comes from bilingual Miami, he has a huge Latin following. Several Mexican TV crews gravitated toward him and one concerned NFL.com espanol reporter seemed to speak for many when he asked:

“Are you sad? You look sad.”

Ochocinco shook his head: “I’m good. You’re looking for the Crazy Chad. Nah, I haven’t been that all year. Why would I do it now?”

He’s not crazy, just out of character in so many ways these days.

He played the first decade of his NFL career with the Bengals and was selected to the Pro Bowl six times, had more than 1,000 receiving yards seven different seasons and relentlessly sought the spotlight.

He had a good-natured way of needling opponents, was a one-man stage show with his end zone touchdown celebrations, ran against race horses, rode bulls, hosted a cable dating show, was on “Dancing with the Stars” and finally teamed with fellow diva Terrell Owens on a reality TV show.

But the Bengals rarely had success — they never won a playoff game while he was there — and last season finished 4-12.

Over the summer, his welcome beginning to wane, Ochocinco and the Bengals parted ways and the Pats picked him up for an undisclosed draft pick

Under New England coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots’ machine has found valuable, tote-the-company-line cogs in other teams’ problematic players.

It was hoped Ochocinco might duplicate the success the team had several years ago with former Bengal Corey Dillon and more recently with receiver Randy Moss, who had a record 23 touchdowns in 2007.

Instead Ochocinco has had 15 catches for 276 yards and one touchdown, all career lows. In the postseason, he played one play against Denver and wasn’t active for the AFC title game against Baltimore because he had missed practice for his father’s funeral.

“The year wasn’t the way I expected or the way anyone else expected,” he said. “But I did everything I was supposed to do. I worked, I stayed quiet.

“It’s been an adjustment. The first year in anything is going to be an adjustment. It’s been tough, but one abnormal year doesn’t negate years of success. You have to understand I had years to learn the Bengals playbook and get to a certain level of comfort. I didn’t have that coming here. Everything was on the run here coming in after the lockout.

“I try to compare it to something we all can relate to. It’s like having a girlfriend for 10 years and she’s always one way. Then you meet somebody new and you have to adjust to her because you have no idea, so you learn her on the run. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In this case, I’m still here; you know what I mean.”

As he was talking, Deion Sanders, the Hall of Famer turned commentator, called him over for an interview and then a private conversation in which Ochocinco quietly expounded:

“If I acted up on the biggest stage of them all with the elite of elite teams, what would come after that? Where would I go after that? So I bought into the Patriot way: Being a team player, not being disgruntled, not complaining — all those things I’ve been labeled with over the past...(being) a cancer.

“I keep my mouth shut and do what I’m told. Or I could have done it the other way and said, ‘This is what I want.’ And then I would have been cut in five or six weeks and today I’d be at home watching instead of in the Super Bowl.”

Tuesday, though, was not the stage many expected he’d have if and when he finally got to the NFL’s biggest game.

During New England’s hourlong session, 14 Patriots were given mini-stages from which to hold court and four more got designated areas in the stands.

Ochocinco, though, joined the mass of non-marquee players left wandering around the stadium sideline. And yet, he soon was mobbed by media types, drawing more of a crowd than most teammates on the risers.

Asked if he wished he had a stage, he shook his head and held up his cell phone:

“I don’t need a podium. I have my own podium. It’s my phone. I can reach three million people faster than anyone can here.”

Ochocinco has embraced social media like no other pro athlete. He’s sent out more than 32,000 tweets on Twitter and has more than 3.1 million followers.

During President Obama’s State of the Union address last week, for instance, he tweeted about the “guy over Obama’s shoulder” who “doesn’t seem happy.”

It turned out to be Speaker of the House John Boehner, who later tweeted a response and now the two have messaged back and forth enough that they plan to meet after the Super Bowl.

The Cincinnati-raised Boehner ended one good-luck message with “Who Dey!”

Although no longer a Bengal, Ochocinco — who noted, “I come from Dade County, a place they call Liberty City, where the odds were against me all my life growing up” – spoke glowingly Tuesday about his old team and the chances it gave him:

“Man, (Bob) Bratkowski (former offensive coordinator) was the reason I was able to come here. Mike Brown, I would like to say, in a sense, gave me life for drafting me. And Marvin Lewis was the factor behind all my success. He was a person I confided in.

“Everything about that organization, that city, is what made me what I am. ... The fans were awesome. Coach Lew was like a dad.”

As for the Patriots, he said: “It’s like Fort Knox. Everybody on the outside thinks they know, but they really have no clue, honestly. I play for a guy who is a genius in every sense of the word. People ask what he’s like. I compare him to the drill sergeant in the beginning of “Full Metal Jacket.”

“...But I tell you, the winning experience is always great, whether you have a big role, a small role or, hell, no role at all. What I’ve had this year is something I can grow accustomed to.”

In the case of Chad Ochocinco, who would have guessed that silence would be so golden?