Michael Clay

Q. Kickoff returns. Why do you think there’s been a little bit of a struggle for RB Tank Bigsby so far? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I think just a little bit just has to do with just our catch mechanics. If the ball falls on your side you don’t have that opportunity to use more of your body surface and I think that’s, as we look at it been our biggest issue is just corralling the ball, whether that’s the L.A. Rams game or last Thursday against the Giants, when we don’t corral the ball, that gives us issues and it puts the team in a terrible situation with field position with the offense and that falls on me more than anything else, but we’ve proven that when we do have an opportunity to catch it correctly, get going north and south, we have some opportunities to get it past the 30, the Tampa Bay game, Denver game. We’ve gotten past there. So for us it’s really honing back in and let’s do the elementary things correctly first before getting downhill in terms of our returns. So a lot of it’s just our catch mechanics and that’s the great thing about the NFL. The first six weeks weren’t up to our standard in terms of kickoff return and helping the team, but there’s 11 more weeks left to mend that and it’s going to start tomorrow in practice and we don’t want to try and take the big chunk on the first time. It’s all about the steps to mend those things.

Q. Will you go back to RB Tank Bigsby? (Jeff McLane)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I mean we have obviously a plethora of returners that we get to use to our disposal, so it’s not like you make one mistake, you’re going to be benched for the entire of the year, but we have plenty of people to go out there and get the job done.

Q. You have an experienced returner and WR Xavier Gipson on the roster? He hasn’t played yet. Would he help? (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: Like I said, there’s so many returns we have at the opportunity and it all goes into how we go into every week because obviously you only have so much on the roster who could play some teams or some situations that you’re light at one position, you won’t get it. So it takes a full team collective effort to be able to write those on kickoff return.

Q. In the Rams game there was obviously Los Angeles Rams K Joshua Carty had a bunch of different kicks at his disposal. Was there anything funky with the ball this week or was it just dropped? (Jeff Neiburg)

Michael Clay: No, it was just more of just our catch mechanics just caught on the side right there and hit his, I think his right shoulder pad right there.

Q. With both RB Tank Bigsby and WR John Metchie. These are players who had minimal to no experience at kickoff returns before you guys put it out there. Has the experience I guess showed that it’s more of a developed skill than putting someone in there without that type of experience? (Zach Berman)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I think everything you do on the NFL or in football in general is a developed skill. In the real world you just don’t put anybody into being an electrician, there goes your house, there goes all the lights right there. So it is a developed skill and stuff you got to really work at to get really good at and I think that just starts from the college process to now to repetition. Obviously you’re always going to get a little bit better the more reps you get, so the more we get in, the better I think they’ll be able to get confidence wise to get going.

Q. Why is that the approach that you’ve taken then at the kickoff return spot this year, going with two guys who don’t have that type of background? (Zach Berman)

Michael Clay: A lot of it you deal with all that stuff just on how everything is kind of constructed. Unfortunately [RB] Will [Shipley] got hurt in that Dallas game where now you’re pressing into that issue right there. But regardless of the roster or any construction right there, it’s on me to get these guys as confident as they can [be to] fundamentally to catch the ball, get going north and south more than anything else instead of trying to scheme up the perfect play right there, we got to make sure that we control the ball and give the ball to our offense in some meaningful field position instead of them backed up.

Q. We’ve seen WR Jahan Dotson fair catch a lot of punts comparable to other returners. Is that something he’s being coached to do? (Jeff McLane)

Michael Clay: No, I think a lot of it has to do with, I think there’s a lot of context and everything. Some of it’s just plus 50 punts. You don’t get an opportunity to return in the plus 50 areas. It’s just not how it’s constructed. In the New York game they had it at the plus 42 that kicked the 30 yards, he was at the 12 yard line and we messed it up just by being in terms of some penalties right there and now you put — The L.A. Rams game, he only had one in the plus 50 as well. So a lot of the times there’s some context to it now for him I think it’s just him getting back into everything and he’s averaging 10 yards of return when he does have an opportunity and for a punt returner you got to really have some faith into the 10 other guys and that falls on us to get the return going right there.

But I think Jahan’s doing a solid job in terms of protecting the ball. Obviously you want to give the defense did their job, we want to get our ball back right there, but again, when he does have his opportunity, he is got to return to 15 and return to 14, nine and eight, you’re going to some of those yardage back, get that first down and give us some positive yards right there. But I think he’s doing a solid job thus far and we’re going to just try to continue to go this and it only takes one to get that momentum going. Obviously a couple of years ago that happened in the Tampa Bay game and we had a good punt return unit.

Q. Is there any hard and fast rule about how deep to fair catch it inside the 10, inside the seven or does it depend on the punter and the conditions? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: Yeah, when you get into the plus territory, say they get towards midfield, we have our set rules and where our returners want to put our heels at and everything in the field it gets a little bit more dicey in terms of like you’re backing up, you thought the ball’s at the 25, he’s not going to kick it that far. And sometimes it does. There were some games this past where the guy was in the field and he caught it at the two, then it’s like, you’re darned it if you do, you darned if you don’t right there. But we have some set guidelines determining on where we are in the field position right there. I think Jahan’s done some good job of catching some shorter punts, happened in the Denver game. We got 14 yards. It was I think a net of like 28, the last punt return against the Giants. The ball went 39 yards, he caught it got nine yards. It doesn’t seem like a lot but the net’s 30, you’re going to win some field position battles in that case.

Q. I don’t get to see all the practice and obviously you guys practice the kickoff returns. Is there the struggles that happen in the game where it was consistent with what’s happening in practice? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: No, I think if we were fumbling the ball every time on practice, you wouldn’t put that person out there.

Q. Do you identify with the disconnect whenever you’re there because you obviously practice? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Yeah, a lot of the times in the Rams game the balls all over the ground and there’s no excuse where we just got to catch the ball in terms of all that. But I don’t think there’s any disconnect from practice to the game. It’s just for us getting square on the ball when that ball is kicked so we have a lot more body surface to catch it instead of on the side and you turn and now you put yourself at a disadvantage.

Q. You mentioned having different confidence in different guys in terms of return kicks. Do you have the same confidence of different depth options at punt returner that you might use? (Cayden Steele)

Michael Clay: Yeah, absolutely. I mean obviously you got some guys in [WR] Jahan [Dotson], [DB] Cooper Dejean, you got guys, [WR] Xavier Gipson, [WR Britain] Covey has done it in the NFL right there. So you always have some confidence because we do have some depth out there in terms of the punt returner.

Q. What do you like about RB A.J. Dillon as a kick returner? Obviously he had the one bobble and everything, but what made you guys want to go to him after you took out RB Tank Bigsby? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: Yeah, you get a north and south runner, he had that first one where he did and got out to the 30-yard line. He’s going to fall forward especially in these tight quarters right there where if you’re making first contact at the 28 and you fall forward four yards at the 32, you feel real confident in that. A lot of running backs are that way, whether it’s [RB] Tank [Bigsby], whether it’s [RB] Will Shipley, whether it’s A.J. But again, with those two returners it’s the other 10 guys right there. Can we give them a lane where they’re not having to stop their feet? Can they get north and south and make those plays as a kick returner?

Q. There was another field goal block in the Washington Commanders game last night, but what’s your best working theory as to why there’s been so many so far this year? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I mean a working theory, I wish I had a precise answer for you in terms of all that, but I think a lot of variables go into it last night a little bit wetter, maybe get a little bit of a lower kick going forward and these D tackles, [Washington Commanders DT] Javon Kinlaw was the first round pick for a reason and they’re able to get some penetration. We have a set guideline rules if you get this much penetration, get your hands up the apex of the ball, majority of the time you could get a fingertip on it or a hand on it. So I think there’s just a lot of variables that go into it. But I think the players, they’re the ones in between the white lines, they do a good job of having an opportunity to change the trajectory of the game.

Q. LB Nakobe Dean got the six special team snaps. How excited was he? Did you notice anything in getting back on the field after the length of injury? (Ed Kracz)

Michael Clay: Yeah, absolutely. For a guy to have that severe of an injury, his first game back, you feel the energy and he wants to go out there and contribute in any way he can. We’re fortunate here that he was able to play some special teams with us and being able to run back out there, he had a nice little trap block on the kickoff return, so hopefully he keeps getting that confidence in that leg. But just having his aura, his presence around is always going to be a positive for our team.

Q. Long snappers, people don’t notice them until they make a mistake. It’s typical position for LS Cal Adomitis to come in after LS Charley Hughlett got hurt. What have you seen? Are you happy with that? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: Yeah, very happy with Cal. And like you said, you haven’t heard anything from the long snapper standpoint, It means he’s doing a pretty good job, but he is been able to integrate really quickly with [K] Jake [Elliott] and [P] Braden [Mann] and those three guys. And it’s not like he was a rookie that had never played in the NFL, he knows the rigors of the NFL. He is done a good job of understanding our language, understanding what Braden, what Jake like in terms of the punt and the field goal. So Cal’s done a really good job the first two weeks and hopefully we can continue that advance and from the long snap perspective. Thanks.