Michael Clay

Q. How concerning was that that CB Isaiah Rodgers didn’t know the rule, didn’t understand the rule, or what was your interpretation of that whole sequence? (Reuben Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, in terms of the coaching aspect, when a player says he doesn’t understand you take it to heart as a coach. From his aspect, I viewed it in two different ways.

He started by saying he’s been playing gunner a lot in this league. If he’s talking from the gunner’s perspective, he is 1000% correct. You can push the defender into the returner without causing a penalty.

Why where I probably failed him and the team is I didn’t differentiate when we do talk gunner work and vice work what we want obviously. If he has confusion on that it falls on me as a coach of not explaining it correctly where he understands.

From a gunner aspect, 1000% correct. You can push a vice player into the returner. From a vice standpoint, however you want to call it, we never want to put our own player in a disadvantage by throwing somebody into [DB] Cooper [DeJean].

Again, it falls on me to be able to articulate to him the big difference, if there any you misconception on what the rules and the understanding is.

Q. Was CB Isaiah Rodgers in there because DB Cooper DeJean was in for WR Britain Covey? (Jeff McLane)

MICHAEL CLAY: He [CB Isaiah Rodgers] started in the New Orleans game as well on the outside. We’ve got good enough personnel where we can.

It was hot out there. You don’t want to overuse some guys that are playing a lot on offense, defense. That’s why special teams is an important phase for us. Again, Isaiah has been doing this for a while in this league, so just can’t happen. Two weeks in a row it’s kind of snowballed where special teams has affected it in a bad way.

But the cool thing about the NFL, you have the [CB] Kelee [Ringo] incident, the Isaiah incident, they come back and have a huge play on that field goal block.

Q. What happened on the CB Kelee Ringo incident? (Ed Kracz)

MICHAEL CLAY: You know, it’s really — it’s, one, tough win you are the vice guy and you’re just trying to block for the returner as hard as possible. You can see 32 slipped and Kelee blocking him goes head over heels. He is a little bit out of control. Doesn’t see [DB Cooper DeJean] Coop and runs into him.

We talked about it yesterday, and I try to do a better job as a coach in those situations of communication from Cooper or myself on the sideline. Again, in a stadium where you can probably yell and people hear you, a poison call to get out the way so we don’t run into each other at the end of the day of the half like that.

For myself as a coach I got to be able to communicate and calm things out. Coop’s first time being a punt returner. You try to make it calm as possible for him.

Coop did a good job tracking the ball. Kind of a different punter they put in there. [Tampa Bay Buccaneers Punter] Jake Camarda was the starter and then brought up [Tampa Bay Buccaneers Punter] Trenton Gill. Just the learning curve of him seeing hang time to punt. ‘I can’t get a return. Let me fair catch and control the ball for the offense.’

Q. DB Cooper DeJean mentioned he has to kind of wave for the fair catch earlier. Do you agree with that and what are the rules when it comes to returning punts? (Dave Zangaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, again, it comes to if this is a rocket punt, a 60-yard punt at 4-0, you’re going to have plenty of time before the gunners get there. Just seeing how the ball — it was 32 yards, 38 yards, 37 yards, at a 4.3 hang time, I don’t care who you have out there, it’s going to be tough in those short distances to get a return.

If he sees it off the foot, this thing is pretty high up in it the air and he has to come up, it’s probably a shorter distance punt with a higher hang time. Throw up the fair catch and get to everybody calm and out the way so we don’t have those instances.

With Coop, he’s done a great job for us in the first four weeks. Coming back off injury, in training camp, and being thrown into a core four special teams player and then being thrown into a punt returner. Really doesn’t feel like it’s too big of a moment for him.

Q. On the blocked extra point from a positive standpoint, what did you like from that? What did CB Isaiah Rodgers do well? (John McMullen)

MICHAEL CLAY: I think it all starts if you look two field goals ahead of it. [S] Tristin McCollum jumped through that — we call it the D gap in between the wing and the end. Actually gave an advantage to us. Okay, Tristin got through clean. That wing probably has to spend a little bit more time trying to block Tristin, and Isaiah, who has done it for a while, says, hey, I saw something off the holder that I can go and get one.

Obviously there was a shorter field goal, I think 21 yards, so we said we’ll hold on. That extra point came up and we gave him the green light to go and he had an outstanding jump; cleared it pretty well.

Pretty impressive for [CB] Kelee [Ringo] to go from full speed, clear his feet, pick it up, and still stay in bounds. Helped us build some momentum going in changing that from a three-score game to a two-score game.

So them able to bounce back from two plays they probably want back, us you want back as a team, to come and help out the team, you can’t be more impressed in those two guys coming back to play.

Q. How close was CB Isaiah Rodgers to getting the next one? (Bo Wulf)

MICHAEL CLAY: He was pretty close again. I think he slipped just at the end when he was trying to turn the corner. He has a knack, and now we got to be able to understand people are going to go on a hard count, go silent, go quick. He was extremely close. A lot of times the big guys on the interior do get credit because they get some good push.

Now that we have a couple guys on the outside it helps us that we can change the game, whether it’s a blocked field goal or blocked extra point.

Q. What were the conversations like with DB Cooper DeJean after the game? Given that was his first time in the full time role there and it was kind of a hairy situation. (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, you are just trying to give him the comfort and the support. Going out there first game, rookie, like I said, there will be some growing pains, but we can’t have that happen regardless. Just to keep his confidence up.

You never want a guy back that second guessing himself or second guessing what we’re trying to do. Just confidence building. Going into the bye week, get his body right, come back kind of a new season, one-game season, go after it, and try to have another opportunity to build upon what happened in Tampa Bay in a positive light.

Q. I saw you after the CB Kelee Ringo one. You put your arm around him there. Was that concern about his health or discussing with him what just happened? (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: It’s always first of all you always wanna discuss the player’s health out there. You take a shot — Kelee is no small cat. To take a shot, head up, one, you want to make sure he’s okay, more than anything else, then you just to give him the sense of confidence. We need you back out there. That’s on me with the communication towards him and to Kelee. That’s on me. Don’t think about that. Wash it. Go into the half and come back and clean it up.

He never batted an eye. He was ready to go back out there. He didn’t have the opportunity. He had the fair catch because the ball went 37 yards, but it is one of the things I learned as a coach throughout the years is there is no point in snowballing by yelling or something like that. You got to get these guys controlled, get their confidence back up, know we got faith in them, so they’re able to go and put a positive foot forward.

Q. How do you feel about how guys like LB Ben VanSumeren and LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. become for you on special teams considering their playing and a guy like Devin White has been inactive and hasn’t played, just what their value to what they do on special teams? (Martin Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, they’ve been doing a tremendous job. Ben had two tackles last game on punt coverage. He is the heartbeat for us.

And Trot, he’s just getting better and better. Four games in, week one to week four, he’s just getting better and better. He understands. He asks questions. So we’re going to lean on those guys being linebackers to be the heartbeat of our special teams.

Again, it takes not just two guys, it takes the whole teams in terms of the special teams aspect to build this and get us back on track after this bye week to start with a positive note.

Let these guys get their bodies right, mind right, and come back fresh and get after Cleveland in a couple weeks.

Q. Kind of just called LB Ben VanSumeren the heartbeat there. When you look back to where he started as an undrafted guy, do you get a sense that this guy could be really something for me on special teams? (John McMullen)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, absolutely. He made it down to the last day and then got cut. We were able to get him on practice squad. Then you see a lot from his practice squad tape going against our guys on the look-rush team so to say on punt. Just his movement, it’s hard to find a guy that can run like he can and is physical.

When he had the opportunity to come in he jumped in. In the Dallas game here at home, put him in a new spot and did well there. Then being able to play a few more games, made his first tackle against Kansas City. It’s that confidence factor that I can do it in the NFL.

He’s really taken this level. He meets with [Special Teams Assistant] Tyler Brown every Friday and Saturday and watches six to seven plays of the opposing team or good plays from around the league. He is a student of the game. He always asks questions. ‘What are we doing here? Why are we doing this?’ It’s always a pleasure when you have to a guy like that on your special teams unit.

Q. What about LB Ben VanSumeren’s athleticism make him an asset offensively? Did the conversation to get him in the backfield happen before or after training camp? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I mean, Ben is an athlete. I coach fourth down. When it comes to first, second, third down you can ask [Offensive Coordinator] Kellen [Moore]. Any time you can help out the team, the more you can do in the NFL.

Q. LB Devin White would be a good special teams player. He is athletic. Why isn’t he playing special teams? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, that’s a conversation that we have in the organization. What he feels comfortable with. Again, Devin has been in the league multiple years but hadn’t had a lot of the special teams reps.

For myself personally, I’ll take anybody that wants to play special teams. I’m not saying he can’t play or anything of that nature. It’s just how it rolls here in the NFL at times. When push does come to shove and he wants to help out, I’m more than welcome.

It’s an organizational talk we have throughout the week. Only have 48 guys up, so however it’s divvied up, we’ll be able to do with that.

Q. We Saw Former Eagles RB Darren Sproles out at practice last week. How valuable can that be for DB Cooper DeJean? (Dave Zangaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: I mean, I think you ask any returner in the NFL, if you have Darren Sproles back there you’re going to have some tidbits to learn. We walk through on Wednesday, but went out there after and he was able to give him some tidbits.

I was here with Darren in ’14 and ’15. It’s nice to have a familiar face. Anything Darren has for us, we take notes and try to relay it to the guys if he can’t talk to them personally. Having Darren around is awesome.