Michael Clay

Q. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was just saying he doesn’t love Eagles DB Cooper DeJean being out there returning punts now that he’s got a full-time role on defense. How does Cooper manage that? It’s not an easy thing for a young kid. (Reuben Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: No, it’s not an easy thing. I think he manages it very well. He just stays locked in. He’s always in tune. It’s great to have a support system that we have here in terms of [Eagles wide receivers coach] Aaron Moorehead getting with him during practice. I’m sure you guys see him on Thursdays. He’s with [Morehead] all the time catching off the punts, off the JUGS [machine], doing drills. It’s almost like a security blanket for him to have him there.

But I think Coop does a great job of compartmentalizing things from the defense to when he knows he has to be out there for punt return. I think he’s getting more confidence doing it in terms of returning, when to return, when to fair catch.

I think Coop is doing a really good job in terms of all that in terms of breaking up the two from defense and punt return.

Q. He has such a different body type than Eagles PR Britain Covey. Does anything change with the rest of the unit when you have a different type of returner back there? (Dave Zangaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: I don’t think the body type really changes what we’re trying to do. We are always trying to get north and south, gain as many yards as possible. I think you saw that in that big return he had against the Giants.

First of all, it all starts with the guys on the outside, [Eagles CB] Kelee [Ringo], [Eagles CB] Avonte [Maddox] and [Eagles CB] Isaiah [Rodgers]. If they are able to spring him, get him past that first wave, get that first 10 yards, then you can kind of break it to the outside.

But you know, talking with some people, the difference really with Coop is he’s kind of shockingly more stout than people give him credit for, and you saw him run through a few tackles. Again, trying to tell him, you know, you don’t always have to run somebody over. You can get out of bounds and save those hits on him, but just like anything else, for a young guy like him, he’s trying to make the most of the opportunity and he’s doing a good job thus far.

Q. You’re mixing up the kickoff guys. Sometimes it’s Eagles P Braden Mann. Sometimes it’s Eagles K Jake Elliott. What’s the reason for that? (Merrill Reese)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, that’s just a little game plan thing here and there. What can we do to keep guys off balance? At times other coaches have to get ready for that.

I know back in college you practice the swinging gate. You may never do that but it’s an extra two to three minutes you have to get ready for. Things of that nature and it’s always a luxury when you have two guys that can kick off with Braden and Jake. They are doing a great job thus far.

Q. You’ve opened the 21-day practice window for Eagles WR Ainias Smith. What have you seen from him in terms of the special teams part of his game? (Chris Franklin)

MICHAEL CLAY: It’s exciting to see those guys when they do get that window opened up and get back to being healthy and a hundred percent and just get that confidence of playing football again. I think Ainias has done a good job. I’ve kind of thrown him in there on the scout team as the returner just so he can feel it. Get that live game rep against guys that will go out there on Sunday.

But again just to see his confidence go from day-by-day and he talks a little bit more, gets a little more acclimated with the game plan, how a week goes throughout the year. It’s always exciting when guys have their window open just like when [Eagles S] Sydney [Brown] had his window open. They are excited and chomping at the bit to get back out there.

Q. With teams having to prepare differently for a different kickoff, what do you see in the differences between Eagles K Jake Elliott and Eagles P Braden Mann kicking off? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

MICHAEL CLAY: They all bring different things. I think Braden does a great job of using power when we have to neutralize returners, and I think Jake can have power but he also has some finesse game, a little bit more of different kicks that he can use, not that Braden can’t do it. But I think Jake, obviously being a kicker by trade, has a little bit of that.

Again, it’s just something we have in our back pocket, you know, if we get into those situations where we do like a scenario where we can use Jake and put the ball wherever he wants to put it.

Q. Last week you talked about eliminating catastrophic plays. How did you approach that last week and how do you feel like special teams performed in that regard? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: Usually when you don’t have a catastrophic play, you’re pretty good. I’m not too happy about the penalties we had because those are just mental penalties.

I think we addressed that yesterday in terms of us, special teams-wise, that we have got to eliminate those five-yard penalties. They add up in terms of that, and you know, some things we just got to learn from.

And I think the young guys and the veteran guys, they all understand how much penalties affect special teams-wise in the long run and the hitting yardage. So now, okay, you eliminate the big catastrophic one, but we have to eliminate the thousand paper cuts that will end up getting you at some point.

We’ve still got to put together a complete game but obviously they played hard, they played physical out there, we just got to eliminate some of those mental errors that we have.

Q. Have you had to talk to Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni at all about times when you may have wanted to sub out Eagles DB Cooper DeJean as the punt returner because he is playing defense? (Bob Brookover)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I mean there’s always that thought in your process but you also have to look at the big picture of, ‘Alright, there is a big play to be had.’ You would like to secure the ball. You always tell the guy, take a fair catch so he doesn’t take the hit.

But you still always want to secure the ball. You never want to put the ball at risk especially in a game that happened on Sunday, big enough lead you don’t want to put your defense backed up right there. So there’s always different things we could talk about like, ‘Hey, let’s just take the hits off him, let’s secure the ball and let’s get out of there.’

Q. Could you see Eagles DB Cooper DeJean still having a role as a punt returner when Eagles PR Britain Covey is eligible to come back? (Martin Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, it’s always a luxury when you have two viable options back there. They both started off with good averages thus far. You know, Coop, he’s starting to get up there with his average. I know he averaged about 15 [yards per punt return] last game. It was like 13 the previous game, and you know Covey, he was up there as a top three punt returner last year.

It’s always nice that you have luxury that you can now do things in your game plan that you may not have been able to do. Very similar to back in the day when New England had double returners with [former Patriots WR Julian] Edelman and [former Patriots WR Danny] Amendola right there, you have got some opportunities.

But again we’ll cross that bridge when we have to. We are hoping Covey gets back healthy and speedy recovery. But again we are very confident in Coop going forward.

Q. What’s it like to have Eagles S Sydney Brown back and what does he bring to your group? Seemed like he didn’t miss a beat out there. (Reuben Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, having Sydney back, one, it’s awesome for him. To go back to the field where the injury did happen a year ago and him to not bat an eye at it, that’s awesome.

It’s a testament to him to get back and the rehab, the trainers here to get him back as soon as possible and then go out there and he had a huge block in the punt return game to spring Coop and then he had that tackle at the 20-yard line on punt gunner.

Again, just him to get back out there, it’s a sense of freedom when a guy gets to play in between the white lines again and to have that energy and the physicality, you know, you could teach a lot of things but you can’t teach the physicality that Sydney brings and the energy he brings.

So again we are happy to have him back and we are just going to keep building off this game.

Q. Do you like the new kickoff formation? Is it something you think will last? (Merrill Reese)

MICHAEL CLAY: I take it day-by-day. I’ll see what they want us to do. It’s obviously something that we’re able to get a little bit more coaching in. So again, once they make a decision down the road, we’ll play whatever they want to play.

Q. Cincinnati returned a kickoff this season. How much can you learn from that? How much do you think you figured out, kickoff coverage, at this point? (John McMullen)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, you can always learn, not just from the Cincinnati game, obviously we are getting prepared because [Bengals WR/PR] Charlie Jones is a darned good returner. He had a punt return last year against Baltimore and then he had that 100-yarder at the start of the game against Cleveland.

You always want to learn the technique stuff. How do we corral this guy? You also look across the board at what the NFL is doing, a lot of times, what’s the flavor of the year, what’s the return that’s happened the most and you learn off that. You study your peers, who is top dog in kickoff return; who is top in coverage; what are they doing. And you try to sprinkle some stuff in.

When push comes to shove and we do have to cover, we’ve got to get guys rolling, and I know we only have about three opportunities to do that because our kicker has done a good job of neutralizing them. But when they have, they have covered them down well. But we can’t take a day off and think, all right, this ball is going to the back of the end zone.

We have got to be ready to make sure we use our fundamentals and techniques and tackle, a lot of things come down to tackle, tackle, tackle. Get these guys down in space.

Q. Not specific to your team, but Eagles K Jake Elliott was drafted by Cincinnati, obviously didn’t make it, ended up here and that happens for a large majority of kickers drafted. Why do you think it is that kickers don’t hang onto the first place typically? (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I think all of us just based on the scenario they are put in. If you have a veteran guy and they are trying to bring you in competition, you always know the devil you do know over the devil you don’t. It happens more often than not unfortunately. It is cool to see guys that do get that second opportunity to hang on and have a very good career that Jake’s had.

Again, very honored to have Jake on our team and when we come back tomorrow for practice, can’t wait to get him back out there and go through his routine like he usually does.

Q. Going back to the penalties on opening kickoff, how much do you feel like the old rules are still ingrained in some of the guys, especially the veterans? (Olivia Reiner)

MICHAEL CLAY: Those veteran guys are so used to hearing that sound off the foot and they are ready to go.

Again we’ve just got to be disciplined in that dependent on first kickoff, second kickoff we just have to be able to hold our water and not leave until the ball has been caught or hit the ground. Just trying to retrain those guys and they have done a good job with it thus far. I know [Eagles CB] Kelee [Ringo] had that first one in the Green Bay game.

We just have to eliminate those ones. Because again, ball at the 30, now the ball is at 35, you get one first down, you kind of eliminate your punt return game.

But our defense did a heck of a job getting all those sacks. Again, just trying to relearn it and everybody staying calm for the moment, and then once that ball is caught or has hit the ground, we have to be able to take off like we are getting off the blocks on a track.