Montgomery: Best way to have fun is to win
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Ty Montgomery co-hosted Monday's Clubhouse Live, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin’s live weekly football show. Packers defensive end/linebacker Datone Jones was Montgomery’s guest.
Among the topics they touched on were bringing the energy, searching for motivation and learning a new position. The show can be seen live at The Clubhouse Sports Pub & Grill in downtown Appleton or at clubhouselive.com.
Here are select and edited answers from the interview:
WATCH: Clubhouse Live with Montgomery, Jones
Q: Aaron Rodgers said after Sunday's loss to the Colts that the energy was "uncharacteristically low" and that it's "not acceptable." Do you agree? From your point of view, was the energy lacking?
Montgomery: Yeah, I can see what he was saying. However your energy presents itself, we're all different. So, however the energy presents itself out of whoever you are, then it needs to come out. And at the end of the day, you're either going to be executing, or you're going to realize you're not executing and you're going to find a way to start executing, and I think that's what he's getting at. It took us too long to start figuring it out.
Q: So, how do you get that energy? What gets you motivated?
Montgomery: For me, I don't usually need a rah-rah speech. I don't need anybody to get me energized to go out there and play. That's just how I am. I can't speak for everyone, but I get energy on executing and finding a way. And if something's challenging, then that's enough for me to go start getting it done because football is supposed to be fun, but no one really has fun when they're losing. The best way to have fun is to start winning, so I'm going to make sure I'm always winning.
Q: You're added outside linebacker duties to your game. What has been the biggest challenge in assuming that hybrid role?
Jones: I have to really thank (Packers linebackers) Coach (Winston) Moss. Coach Moss really took a chance on me. It wasn't easy. I have a lot of guys in my room — Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers — that I had a chance to really learn from and really develop my football IQ. Coach Moss demands a lot out of us. We play for him. He was a longtime player in the NFL. When he coaches us, it's almost like he's still playing. He gets a chance to play through us. We play for each other. We play to win. And we demand a lot out of that "Elephant" room with our linebackers. ... We're a hungry group. And the thing that makes us really special is we all play the same position, and we're all really hungry guys. We all have families. We all have contracts we're playing for. And we're playing for one another to get to the Super Bowl and do as much as we can to win.
Brett Christopherson: 920-993-7117, or brett.christopherson@gannett.com; on Twitter @PCBrettC