Ty Montgomery Went Rogue

It would’ve been a situation the likes of which we’ve seen many times, and which Aaron Rodgers lives for: Down two points with the ball and two minutes left to work. All Ty Montgomery had to do, when he received the kickoff, was to take a knee. He, uh, did not:

Montgomery caught the ball a couple yards into the end zone, and brought it out only to be stripped by Ramik Wilson. Had he kneeled, the Packers would have had the ball on the 25 with 2:05 remaining, with a timeout plus the two-minute warning, with Rodgers merely needing to get into field goal range. Instead, the Rams picked up a first down and ran out the clock to win 29-27.

“The game was won,” said Davante Adams. “I already worked out in my head how everything was going to happen. All we needed was the ball.”

In case you were wondering, yes, Montgomery had been told by coaches to take the touchback if it was available. “The plan was to stay in [the end zone] and give the ball to Aaron Rodgers,” Mike McCarthy acknowledged. “Obviously the plan there is to stay in the end zone. Two minute. We actually talked about it as a team.”

So what might have possessed Montgomery to make an executive decision and take the ball out? Here’s one theory from a teammate, via NFL.com:

“They took him out (the previous drive) for a play and he slammed his helmet and threw a fit,” one Packers player said. “Then (before the kickoff) they told him to take a knee, and he ran it out anyway. You know what that was? That was him saying, ‘I’m gonna do me.’ It’s a fucking joke.

“I mean, what the fuck are you doing? We’ve got Aaron Rodgers, the best I’ve ever seen, and you’re gonna take that risk? I mean, it’s ‘12'! All you gotta do is give him the ball, and you know what’s gonna happen.”

And how’d Rodgers take it?

Montgomery did not speak to reporters after the game. Rodgers gets to go home and add to his years-long list of reasons why he’d be justified in murdering his teammates and coaches.