Ty Montgomery 'thoroughly disappointed in the speculation' of what happened on fumble

It was bad enough that Ty Montgomery fumbled in a key spot for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Then came a story about him possibly disobeying coaches and why.

Montgomery fumbled a kickoff return late against the Los Angeles Rams, costing Aaron Rodgers and the Packers a chance to drive down the field and win the game. Then NFL Network posted a story that said Montgomery was told to not return a kickoff out of the end zone, but did anyway. In the report, one unnamed teammate speculated it stemmed from Montgomery being upset he was taken out of the game earlier.

“That was him saying, ‘I’m gonna do me,’ ” the player told NFL Network’s Michael Silver. “It’s a [expletive] joke.”

Montgomery had to explain himself Monday, but he was most disappointed that it was a topic. It didn’t help that due to all of the terrible messages he got on social media after the fumble, he told his wife to not attend his public appearance on Monday night, according to Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Packers reportedly traded Montgomery to the Baltimore Ravens for a seventh-round draft pick in 2020.

Ty Montgomery says he wasn’t disobeying coaches

First of all, Montgomery said he wasn’t ignoring orders. He said he had a returnable ball, had to make a split-second decision, and took it out. He ended up fumbling, which is why it became an issue.

“But I’ve never been a guy to completely disobey what I’m being told,” Montgomery said Monday, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I think you can ask a lot of guys in our locker room. That’s not what I do. That’s not the type of man I am. That’s not the kind of person I am.”

Montgomery admitted he was frustrated when he got lifted from the game, but that’s “absolutely not” why he returned the kick. According to the Journal Sentinel, Packers cornerback Tramon Williams said he didn’t think Montgomery was returning the kick for any reason other than him doing his usual job.

“I know for a fact he didn’t do it selfishly,” Williams said. “It may look that way, but he didn’t do it selfishly.”

Even if that’s settled, Montgomery was still upset that a teammate anonymously ripped him.

This type of discord explains why he didn’t last long after the fumble in L.A.

Packers player ripped Montgomery anonymously

If we assume Montgomery is telling the truth, it’s understandable why he was not pleased to see a teammate blasting him, saying he was bringing out the kick as part of a tantrum over playing time. Montgomery said he was “very disappointed in the fact that was said and they tried to make correlations that don’t exist.”

“We talk about being brothers,” Montgomery said, according to the Journal Sentinel. “We talk about being family and keeping things in-house, in-house, this, that and the other. That’s not what happened. I don’t know. Maybe that’s what they do in their family. That’s not what I do in mine. No one ever said anything to me. No one ever came to me. So I’m thoroughly disappointed in the speculation and just the backlash I have to deal with now. Because now, we’re talking about my character. We’re not even talking about the fumble anymore, we’re talking about my character. We’re talking about the reasons why I did what I did, and I’m not OK with that.”

What looked like a story about Montgomery on Monday morning might end up being a different story, one about the Packers’ chemistry, with players ripping each other anonymously.

More from Yahoo Sports:
• Ty Montgomery disobeyed orders and fumbled Packers’ game away
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• Rangers roast Dodgers and themselves in viral tweet
• Seahawks rookie punter ices win in wild end zone play

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Frank Schwab is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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