GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy says he didn't play a part in the firing of a fellow employee.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, longtime maintenance employee Mike Wood was sitting in a maintenance cart in a stadium tunnel a few days before the Minnesota Vikings visited Lambeau Field Nov. 1.

As McCarthy talked to the grounds crew, Wood says he yelled to McCarthy to "get the boys ready to kick some butt this weekend."

A few days later, Wood was fired. Wood says his supervisors thought he told McCarthy not to lay an egg, or something similar. The Packers organization says Wood's supervisors determined he made an inappropriate comment.

McCarthy said Friday he had the conversation with Wood, but McCarthy wouldn't reveal what Wood said.

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