May 27, 2022 • 11 mins
Wayne Larrivee sits down with former Green Bay Packers defensive end Mike Montgomery to reflect on playing for Mike McCarthy and Mike Sherman (3:15), coming back against Seattle in blizzard conditions in '07 (5:30), and his takeaways from football that translate to everyday life (8:23).
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
For more than a century, the Green Bay Packers have
been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players have
helped pave the way, and we're here to tell you
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravy. This is the Packers alumni spotlight.
(00:27):
Defensive lineman Bike Montgomery was a seventh round raft pick
by the Packers in two thousand five out of Texas
A and M. He was from a small town in
rural Texas and draft into the smallest town in the NFL.
Mike Montgomery, you come from an athletic family. Your mom,
I understand, a Hall of Fame basketball player. What did
(00:48):
she impart on you is with sports? She just taught
that hard work pays off, you know, hard work coming
in with good faith, treating people how you want to
be treated and uh and working your butt off and
things could happen. And she was always just a a
goal of mine to just emulate her career. So, uh,
(01:10):
it was blessed to see that at the house. Now,
you grew up in East Texas, right center Texas? Where
is that? What major area is that close to? Uh?
It's a super small town, maybe two three thousand people
and it was by uh maybe like three and a
half hours from Houston. Wow. You know, um, I spent
(01:32):
a year in Texas doing high school football and a
little town up in the Panhandle. I don't know if
you know where Pampa, Texas is, but it was a
town of twenty five thousand of the mid seventies and
two tallest structures in town with a grain elevator on
one side of town, the press box of the football
stadium on the other side of town. And every Friday
night fifteen twenty thousand people showed up to watch the
(01:54):
Pampa Harvesters play Friday night lights. What was that like
to play as a kid? It was a exciting Uh,
like Mike Neil, You know, I started playing football later
in life. You know, growing up, mom was a basketball player.
I thought I was just gonna be a basketball player.
So I started playing football late in high school and
it came natural to me. I loved the physicality of
(02:18):
playing football and just out there with the lights and
the aggression and you know, it's either you are the
other guy is gonna win. It was just exciting for
me to be out there. Ain't nothing like football in Texas.
Pretty good athlete, though, weren't you on state in both
football and basketball, Yes, sir, playing football All State and
football and basketball. Played in the All Star Games in
(02:39):
football and basketball, played football and basketball in college as well.
So you grew up in a real small town, as
you pointed out, and you get drafted behind the smallest
town the NFL. I didn't care where I got drafted,
but gladly I got drafted to a great organization. You know,
it was really like a fan Emily organization when I
(03:02):
got in. You know, I remember one example when they
had family night, and that was a time when they
flew your parents in and my mom called me and
I'm like, Mom's everything all right? And then like like
thirty minutes later I saw at practice. I'm like, what
are you doing here? And she's like, no, his family night.
They flew us out there, and and it just shows
(03:23):
how much the Packers organization cares about their players, uh,
because you know, I believe if you have a good,
strong mental state, you have a great performance on the field.
So they just it was just a great family organization.
Playing here, you played for two coaches. Mike Sherman was
here when you got here as a rookie, and then
Mike McCarthy came on, can you give us kind of
(03:45):
a thumbnail and your impressions? Are these two coaches? Uh,
very similar coaching styles. Um they're just like a no
nonsense type personality, like, hey, you get in, you do
what you're supposed to do. You try to decrease the
men to riors and and win and go home. Um.
You know, he always had a no nonsense attitude when
(04:06):
it comes to playing the game. You know, if you
do the right things, you try not to uh beat
yourself when it when it comes to playing the football.
So they both had similar coaching styles. Okay, you're drafting
in the sixth round of two thousand five. That's Aaron
Rodgers draft. So what was the rookie first rookie experience
(04:26):
like when you came you know, after the draft they
had that rookie uh moseum or whatever it is. What
was that like with Aaron Rodgers that did you know
what you were getting into? I really didn't know what
I was getting into. I was just excited and just
going with the moment. We was a real rowdy rum
bucks his rookie class. I mean I remember in practice,
(04:49):
you know, we all came up from something and we
would all like before practice, you know, in O T
A S we would get in a huddle and just
get each other motivated. So we had this song back
back then they didn't want us. Now we hot all
up on it. So we was a rally. Rumbucks is
class and looking back, you know, we everybody from our
(05:09):
class made a huge contribution, from you know, Mike Hawks
to to Nick Collins to uh Marvel Underwood and Terence
Murphy and Aaron Rodgers of course, so we all played
a big role while he was on the team and
for the Packers. Two years later, three seasons later, it's
two thousand seven. It's Mike McCarthy's second year. The first
(05:31):
year was about I think eight and eight, and then
nobody was expecting much from this team, and you guys
took off and had a great run. Brett Farban his
last year in Green Bay. You go all the way
to the NFC Championship game at on one of the
coldest nights, and there have been a lot of them,
but one of the coldest Knights in lambeau Field history.
You guys are taking on the Giants. But before I
get to that game, let me ask you about the
(05:53):
Seattle game in the snow the week before, and you
guys get down. Ryan Grant fumbles twice. It's four nothing, Seattle,
it's snowing hard, and all of a sudden, you guys
scored I want forty two on answered points. What kind
of experience was that? Man? It was it was just overwhelming.
You know when you when you look back and you're
you're you're trying to come back. You you know, I
(06:15):
never just thought of us just being down. It was
just just trying to make every play count. You know.
Uh sometimes in football, you know, we always look at
the big picture. But to to to come back and
do stuff like that, you just need to take one
play at a time and try to win your play
when that down, And we just compelled a lot of
(06:36):
plays and look at the score. Next thing you know,
we was up and winning. Do the Packers enjoy playing
in snow? I loved it. I Mean I'm from the country,
you know, I've never seen snow until I came here.
So playing in snow, playing anywhere, I really just embellished
the opportunity to play my dream and do my dream
(06:59):
go dream job. So that game takes place on a Saturday,
you guys beat Seattle. Now you're waiting to see who
you're gonna play in the NFC Championship game. If the
Cowboys win, the game will be played in Dallas. If
the Giants win, they're coming to Green Bay to play
the Packers. You know, the forecead the extent of forecast
is pretty cold in green Bay and it could be
forty something in Dallas, which would be kind of pleasant. Actually,
(07:23):
what were you guys hoping for for that championship game?
Did you want it at home or would you be
a little better and more comfortable in Dallas? You know? Um,
either way, you know, we just wanted it. You know,
regardless of we played away or home. It's just just
had the opportunity to to play because you know, football
playing NFL is so competitive and every play, every snap counts.
(07:47):
So you know, regardless of how we got in and
where we was playing, just as long as we got
there is it was the most important for us. So
you get there and it's the Giants, it's in lambeau
Field and it's cold. Told me about that. What do
you remember from that game? Oh? Man, it was a
game of superstars, you know, from Michael Strahan to Plexico,
(08:08):
from Eli manning to the other players on it was
a game of superstars from ours Donald Drivers, and uh,
you know, it was a game of superstars and it
was just really highly competitive. Um. You know, it was
a game of inches, like they say in any given Sunday,
and uh playing that was amazing, you know, it was
just sucks and see us going a losing board. But
(08:31):
it was a game of superstars and whoever wanted the most,
whoever made the the the initial adjustments at halftime kind
of one because it was snowy. You really couldn't just
pass the ball like that, and it was just a
physical game. Let me ask you this, uh as you
went on from Green Bay and unin de lightbuled, what
(08:53):
how does football? Does football somewhat prepare you for the
discipline it takes to be successful and there's in other
walks of life, Yes, sir, it does. Um. You know,
the same type of hard work, the same type of
energy and focus and passion you put in to being
a professional football player is the same way you can
just transfer over to any field, entrepreneurship, to business, uh,
(09:17):
to any type of job you want to go to.
So it does prepare you and it shows you a
blueprint of how you need to handle your life because
you know, like we said, you know, not everybody gets
to play professional football. You know, it takes a lot
of hard work, a lot of talent, and it also
takes a lot of sacrifice because you know, a lot
of things we weren't doing. You know, we was just
(09:41):
focused on playing and improving our bodies and and start
staying out of trouble and not doing not necessarily doing
the things we we loved, we enjoy doing, but just
being safe and uh control in our environment. As you
can say, what's your What do you take from your
Green Bay experience? I mean years later now when you
(10:02):
reflect on it, when you think about your experience here
in Green Bay? What do you remember? What do you think?
I remember? I remember a family, you know, a family organization.
A lot of people I play with. I'm still really
good friends. Today. UH talked about Tony Fisher. I just
saw him. We played together. So I think a family organization.
You know, Um, as you get older, you know, your
(10:25):
circle becomes smaller. You know, you don't get to socialize
as much, you know, with families and all that, But
a family organization and this is my like my extended family.
Mike Montgomery played the first five years of his career
with the Packers, covering fifty six games. He signed with
the Minnesota Vikings in March of two thousand and ten
(10:46):
and was released on the final cutdown that year. He
returned to the Packers when injuries hit for a couple
of games during the middle of the Super Bowl season.
For more than a century, the Green Bay Packers have
been a benchmark for football excellence. Thousands of players have
helped pave the way, and we're here to tell you
their stories. I'm Wayne Laravy. This is the Packers alumni spotlight.
(00:27):
Defensive lineman Bike Montgomery was a seventh round raft pick
by the Packers in two thousand five out of Texas
A and M. He was from a small town in
rural Texas and draft into the smallest town in the NFL.
Mike Montgomery, you come from an athletic family. Your mom,
I understand, a Hall of Fame basketball player. What did
(00:48):
she impart on you is with sports? She just taught
that hard work pays off, you know, hard work coming
in with good faith, treating people how you want to
be treated and uh and working your butt off and
things could happen. And she was always just a a
goal of mine to just emulate her career. So, uh,
(01:10):
it was blessed to see that at the house. Now,
you grew up in East Texas, right center Texas? Where
is that? What major area is that close to? Uh?
It's a super small town, maybe two three thousand people
and it was by uh maybe like three and a
half hours from Houston. Wow. You know, um, I spent
(01:32):
a year in Texas doing high school football and a
little town up in the Panhandle. I don't know if
you know where Pampa, Texas is, but it was a
town of twenty five thousand of the mid seventies and
two tallest structures in town with a grain elevator on
one side of town, the press box of the football
stadium on the other side of town. And every Friday
night fifteen twenty thousand people showed up to watch the
(01:54):
Pampa Harvesters play Friday night lights. What was that like
to play as a kid? It was a exciting Uh,
like Mike Neil, You know, I started playing football later
in life. You know, growing up, mom was a basketball player.
I thought I was just gonna be a basketball player.
So I started playing football late in high school and
it came natural to me. I loved the physicality of
(02:18):
playing football and just out there with the lights and
the aggression and you know, it's either you are the
other guy is gonna win. It was just exciting for
me to be out there. Ain't nothing like football in Texas.
Pretty good athlete, though, weren't you on state in both
football and basketball, Yes, sir, playing football All State and
football and basketball. Played in the All Star Games in
(02:39):
football and basketball, played football and basketball in college as well.
So you grew up in a real small town, as
you pointed out, and you get drafted behind the smallest
town the NFL. I didn't care where I got drafted,
but gladly I got drafted to a great organization. You know,
it was really like a fan Emily organization when I
(03:02):
got in. You know, I remember one example when they
had family night, and that was a time when they
flew your parents in and my mom called me and
I'm like, Mom's everything all right? And then like like
thirty minutes later I saw at practice. I'm like, what
are you doing here? And she's like, no, his family night.
They flew us out there, and and it just shows
(03:23):
how much the Packers organization cares about their players, uh,
because you know, I believe if you have a good,
strong mental state, you have a great performance on the field.
So they just it was just a great family organization.
Playing here, you played for two coaches. Mike Sherman was
here when you got here as a rookie, and then
Mike McCarthy came on, can you give us kind of
(03:45):
a thumbnail and your impressions? Are these two coaches? Uh,
very similar coaching styles. Um they're just like a no
nonsense type personality, like, hey, you get in, you do
what you're supposed to do. You try to decrease the
men to riors and and win and go home. Um.
You know, he always had a no nonsense attitude when
(04:06):
it comes to playing the game. You know, if you
do the right things, you try not to uh beat
yourself when it when it comes to playing the football.
So they both had similar coaching styles. Okay, you're drafting
in the sixth round of two thousand five. That's Aaron
Rodgers draft. So what was the rookie first rookie experience
(04:26):
like when you came you know, after the draft they
had that rookie uh moseum or whatever it is. What
was that like with Aaron Rodgers that did you know
what you were getting into? I really didn't know what
I was getting into. I was just excited and just
going with the moment. We was a real rowdy rum
bucks his rookie class. I mean I remember in practice,
(04:49):
you know, we all came up from something and we
would all like before practice, you know, in O T
A S we would get in a huddle and just
get each other motivated. So we had this song back
back then they didn't want us. Now we hot all
up on it. So we was a rally. Rumbucks is
class and looking back, you know, we everybody from our
(05:09):
class made a huge contribution, from you know, Mike Hawks
to to Nick Collins to uh Marvel Underwood and Terence
Murphy and Aaron Rodgers of course, so we all played
a big role while he was on the team and
for the Packers. Two years later, three seasons later, it's
two thousand seven. It's Mike McCarthy's second year. The first
(05:31):
year was about I think eight and eight, and then
nobody was expecting much from this team, and you guys
took off and had a great run. Brett Farban his
last year in Green Bay. You go all the way
to the NFC Championship game at on one of the
coldest nights, and there have been a lot of them,
but one of the coldest Knights in lambeau Field history.
You guys are taking on the Giants. But before I
get to that game, let me ask you about the
(05:53):
Seattle game in the snow the week before, and you
guys get down. Ryan Grant fumbles twice. It's four nothing, Seattle,
it's snowing hard, and all of a sudden, you guys
scored I want forty two on answered points. What kind
of experience was that? Man? It was it was just overwhelming.
You know when you when you look back and you're
you're you're trying to come back. You you know, I
(06:15):
never just thought of us just being down. It was
just just trying to make every play count. You know.
Uh sometimes in football, you know, we always look at
the big picture. But to to to come back and
do stuff like that, you just need to take one
play at a time and try to win your play
when that down, And we just compelled a lot of
(06:36):
plays and look at the score. Next thing you know,
we was up and winning. Do the Packers enjoy playing
in snow? I loved it. I Mean I'm from the country,
you know, I've never seen snow until I came here.
So playing in snow, playing anywhere, I really just embellished
the opportunity to play my dream and do my dream
(06:59):
go dream job. So that game takes place on a Saturday,
you guys beat Seattle. Now you're waiting to see who
you're gonna play in the NFC Championship game. If the
Cowboys win, the game will be played in Dallas. If
the Giants win, they're coming to Green Bay to play
the Packers. You know, the forecead the extent of forecast
is pretty cold in green Bay and it could be
forty something in Dallas, which would be kind of pleasant. Actually,
(07:23):
what were you guys hoping for for that championship game?
Did you want it at home or would you be
a little better and more comfortable in Dallas? You know? Um,
either way, you know, we just wanted it. You know,
regardless of we played away or home. It's just just
had the opportunity to to play because you know, football
playing NFL is so competitive and every play, every snap counts.
(07:47):
So you know, regardless of how we got in and
where we was playing, just as long as we got
there is it was the most important for us. So
you get there and it's the Giants, it's in lambeau
Field and it's cold. Told me about that. What do
you remember from that game? Oh? Man, it was a
game of superstars, you know, from Michael Strahan to Plexico,
(08:08):
from Eli manning to the other players on it was
a game of superstars from ours Donald Drivers, and uh,
you know, it was a game of superstars and it
was just really highly competitive. Um. You know, it was
a game of inches, like they say in any given Sunday,
and uh playing that was amazing, you know, it was
just sucks and see us going a losing board. But
(08:31):
it was a game of superstars and whoever wanted the most,
whoever made the the the initial adjustments at halftime kind
of one because it was snowy. You really couldn't just
pass the ball like that, and it was just a
physical game. Let me ask you this, uh as you
went on from Green Bay and unin de lightbuled, what
(08:53):
how does football? Does football somewhat prepare you for the
discipline it takes to be successful and there's in other
walks of life, Yes, sir, it does. Um. You know,
the same type of hard work, the same type of
energy and focus and passion you put in to being
a professional football player is the same way you can
just transfer over to any field, entrepreneurship, to business, uh,
(09:17):
to any type of job you want to go to.
So it does prepare you and it shows you a
blueprint of how you need to handle your life because
you know, like we said, you know, not everybody gets
to play professional football. You know, it takes a lot
of hard work, a lot of talent, and it also
takes a lot of sacrifice because you know, a lot
of things we weren't doing. You know, we was just
(09:41):
focused on playing and improving our bodies and and start
staying out of trouble and not doing not necessarily doing
the things we we loved, we enjoy doing, but just
being safe and uh control in our environment. As you
can say, what's your What do you take from your
Green Bay experience? I mean years later now when you
(10:02):
reflect on it, when you think about your experience here
in Green Bay? What do you remember? What do you think?
I remember? I remember a family, you know, a family organization.
A lot of people I play with. I'm still really
good friends. Today. UH talked about Tony Fisher. I just
saw him. We played together. So I think a family organization.
You know, Um, as you get older, you know, your
(10:25):
circle becomes smaller. You know, you don't get to socialize
as much, you know, with families and all that, But
a family organization and this is my like my extended family.
Mike Montgomery played the first five years of his career
with the Packers, covering fifty six games. He signed with
the Minnesota Vikings in March of two thousand and ten
(10:46):
and was released on the final cutdown that year. He
returned to the Packers when injuries hit for a couple
of games during the middle of the Super Bowl season.
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