Michael Clay

Q. What are your thoughts on how WR Xavier Gipson did as the kickoff return? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I thought he did a really good job. Obviously first time in action for us. He caught the ball cleanly, got up north and south on the returns. His ball security was good. Then in a crucial spot, I think it was 1:57 [remaining]. Being able to get outside and get to the 43-yard line kind of helps out the team in that situation to help run out the clock. So I thought Xavier did a really good job in his debut for the Eagles.

Q. On whether WR Xavier Gipson will continue to be the kickoff returner…(Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Yeah, everything’s always fluid. You never know what’s going to go up, what’s going to go down in terms of personnel. That’s the great thing about the NFL, decisions don’t have to be made until Saturday, but he did a very nice job for us on Sunday.

Q. Any idea what happened on the 42-yard field goal miss? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: [K] Jake [Elliott] just missed it. He just got too quick, his plant leg was too deep and it didn’t draw on him and you could see on his follow through it just wasn’t him. But the operation was clean. It was just one of those where he missed it. Can’t dive too much into it outside of that.

Q. How much has K Jake Elliott been working on those dirty kicks on kickoffs? (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: Yeah, we work on it a lot. It’s helped out a lot [most] times, [there is] risk you do take when he doesn’t connect it on it correctly and it hits at the 22 instead of that landing zone, we all understand that risk. Obviously you don’t want that because it puts the ball in the 40, but [overall] it does help out. He opened it up after the touchdown and it bounced over the returner’s head so there is some merit to it, but he works on it a ton and everything’s a week by week basis on that kick. Indoors it is a little bit controlled, where outdoors, you may have to play the wind and things like that. That’s what we’re all figuring out also with this new kind of knuckle ball, dirty kick, whatever you want to call it. But I think Jake’s done a really good job with it.

Q. I have a big picture question. I don’t know if you’re awake still last night, but another instance in a game where the team not getting it out of bounds is consequential to the game. How do you assess that? How does that go into your process on the field and what you talk through with K Jake Elliott and all that and what you’re going for? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I mean you always have to be aware of the situation. Shoot, it almost came up against us. Minnesota was driving right there. It was getting close to the two minute, if they would’ve kicked the field goal, it goes into our mindset if they do try to bang this out the back of the end zone and we have an opportunity to return it, we want to get this past the two minute warning from a kickoff return standpoint. From a kickoff standpoint, obviously it goes into Jake if it’s a hundred degree day and it’s outside you boot it out of the back of the end zone, but if you don’t feel confident that we have our stipulations of what we want to do to kind of save that extra timeout from the kickoff cover standpoint.

Q. You spent a decent amount of time around DE Brandon Graham during the past decade. What were your impressions when he decided to come back? (Zach Berman)

Michael Clay: To have a great player, a great person in BG to come in and want to play again and help out the team in any way possible, I think it’s awesome. If you were to ask me if you want, I’ll take any help on special teams any way we possibly can. But [with] BG, just his persona, his influence, and obviously his production, you can’t be mad at that and if he wants to come out and help our team out, by all means people are going to be with open arms, I [definitely] am.

Q. What’s top of mind going up against this Giants group after coming off the first time you guys played? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: Yeah, obviously we want to play much better than we did in MetLife. [New York Giants Special Teams Coordinator Michael Ghobrial] Gobi does an unbelievable job with their special teams unit. They’ve really revamped it. They play hard, they play physical right there and they use their personnel very well. Starting with [New York Giants WR] Gunner [Olszewski] as the returner, he is a veteran player, but he understands the game, understands running lanes. He does a great job for them. They have mix and match pieces. I think [New York Giants S] Dane Belton’s one of the better special teams players in the NFL. He’s out there in high production. I think he has 12 tackles thus far this year. Then you always got to be aware, you see on film that they’ll put [New York Giants OLB] Brian Burns and [New York Giants OLB] Abdul Carter out there on punt return. You got to be on high alert because I believe in the season opener, Abdul blocked a punt against Washington. So I think they do an unbelievable job on special teams and it’s a great fight for us to bounce back and put our best foot forward and help out our team any way possible. Obviously we didn’t do that two weeks ago, but these guys are prideful in this room. They want to do the best they can to help this team.

Q. Playing a team so close in three weeks. Does that change your approach? Do you think about some different things because you just saw them in the rear-view mirror? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I think for me personally, I want to go through the same process I do, whether as a team we haven’t played in two years from Monday through going up through today, obviously you start feeling some rapport for them as a division rival, so you kind of feel confident about it. But you always want to go back to the games you played against them, maybe not a couple weeks ago, but from last year as well, just to see something we could possibly go after or what they can go after us in that case. When it’s a close game like this, these two games in three weeks, it helps out. They only had one game to break down, but you always want to make sure you cover your bases against a team that you play a lot against.

Q. The Giants missed two extra points in that game against the Broncos. What did you see from that operation that could potentially be insightful for this week? (Olivia Reiner)

Michael Clay: Yeah, obviously [New York Giants K Jude McAtamney] he missed those couple of kicks. I know he missed one against us at MetLife. We’re just going to go out there on field goal block. We were looking at some things that we could possibly get after from our field goal block standpoint, but again, a lot of the times it’s just kind of chance or luck in terms of if he misses it or not. But we’re going to try and find a way to get around his feet a little bit and hopefully just kind of getting his head a little bit like, ‘oh we’re around his feet.’ Whether it’s him, whether it’s they have [New York Giants K] Younghoe [Koo], whether it’s [NFL Kicker] Graham [Gano] if they want to bring him back. Obviously two really good kickers that have kicked for a long time, but any way we can affect the kicker. That’s what we’re looking for.

Q. You’ve had LB Nakobe Dean on special teams now for these two games since he’s been back and obviously you didn’t have much last year he was playing down. What’s it like having him back on special teams? How has he been doing so far? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: Yeah, it’s always a blessing having Nakobe because this previous game against Minnesota, [it] wasn’t initially our plan to have him on special teams, but then [LB Jeremiah] Trotter got hurt early on in the game. So then you go into the pieces of special teams moving guys around and I thought he did an unbelievable job going in that wing and also [TE] Kylen Granson going in at guard to take for a Trotter’s spot right there. That’s the beauty of special teams. When one guy goes down, it’s not just a one-for-one swap, it’s a three-for-one swap. But I thought Nakobe’s done a really good job for us and obviously his energy on defense is infectious to our team. He had that big hit against [Minnesota Vikings RB Zavier] Scott near midfield then being able to not worry about him going out there on punt pro. Obviously he’s done it for us before. It’s great and it just shows for this team, they’re always next man up, willing to do anything to help this team win.

Q. TE Kylen Granson has been a volume tackler in coverage. What has he brought to teams? (Andrew DiCecco)

Michael Clay: He is a veteran presence, being in Indianapolis for the past four years and being a productive member there. For us, he is a swiss army knife. You could put him in different spots and he’s able to produce and obviously he’s high up there in the tackle clip. I think him, [S] Sydney [Brown] and Trotter [are] up there in the top 10-ish or something of that nature. But he does a great job of just understanding the game, understanding the concept of what the team’s trying to do against us. When he is in this room, he is not just looking at his position that has his name on it, he’s looking at the others that you’re able to feel confident to throw him in just in case injuries do happen like it did in this previous game.

Q. Similar to that, TE E.J. Jenkins, the first time you had him on special teams quite a bit, how do you think he performed? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: I thought he performed well. We had E.J. a lot last year, but he stays ready. I think he actually sits in that seat right there and he stays ready and I tell him, ‘Hey, you have an opportunity to be up. Just be able to know where you’re going to be at.’ And when Trotter went down, I had to kick [OLB] Patrick [Johnson] inside and EJ [Jenkins] took that three spot and he did an unbelievable job. I think it was [TE] Cameron [Latu] and Patrick that made the tackle, but if E.J.’s not there, it may bounce out. [When] you get a guy that’s 6’7″ and strong like that, you’re able to use him on kickoff return, punt, kickoff coverage, things of that nature, punt return. I thought E.J. did an unbelievable job coming in and spelling some guys when those injuries did happen.