Michael Clay

Q. Seemed like the Browns did what the Giants did in terms of getting a way to jump over and block the field goal. How do you defend that? What were your takeaways from it? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah. Obviously, when you have someone of a special caliber talent as [Browns DE] Myles Garrett, you have to be hyper-aware of where he’s going to be rushing at. I know he’s been rushing on the outside, over the tackle, at the wing, and at the guard.

So, there are some coaching points we’d like to get – ‘rise with power’ is what we say. After you get that first bump, you want to rise and maybe even clip a leg of his, and he falls down or he becomes unbalanced, and he can’t get there.

A lot of times, we saw the Seattle-Giants game, where there’s a little bit of a loophole in there where you could press down on the guy without pulling him out.

But again, it’s just us sinking to our details of, ‘Hey, we’ve got to understand situationally, longer field goal is deeper, end-of-half, what do they have to lose?’ And knowing someone of that caliber that Myles Garrett is, he may take a shot to try to jump over you, and we want to rise with power. Clip a leg; if he falls on you, you get the 15-yard penalty. If we make it or miss it, we take the extra 15.

But again, it comes to our details and myself understanding and telling these guys in what situations, ‘Hey, this is a possibility that can happen with a guy like Myles Garrett,’ or anybody of that nature.

Q. To clarify, they hadn’t shown on film him over the middle? (Jeff McLane)

MICHAEL CLAY: No, they’ve shown him over the middle. And going over it and everything, and it happened in the Indianapolis game.

Again, it’s just understanding the situation when it’s going to happen. Is it going to happen with 14 minutes left in the second quarter? Probably not. You’re not going to risk the 15. But a 57-yarder, end-of-half? Higher possibility of him doing that to salvage a play going into the half.

Q. The conversation to clip him, was that a conversation before the game? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: It’s always an alert. We meet with all these guys on all the different looks, rushes, different things. [Browns CB] Denzel Ward, you have to be on high alert for, he’s blocked kicks in the league. Myles Garrett, [Browns DT] Shelby Harris is one of the better – he’s comparable to [DT Jordan Davis] JD and [DT Jalen Carter] JC in the A gap and B gap of getting their hands up.

So, it is notifying everybody. But again, it falls on me to get rid of these catastrophic plays that have happened for us. There have been three really bad plays that mar some good special teams plays that we have had.

Again, when you have three catastrophic plays, those are things that do kill a season, kill a team right there. We have to make sure we get rid of those going forward against the Giants. Again, it falls on me. I’ve got to do a better job in a situation of telling these guys, high alert for this. It could be high alert for a punt rush, or high alert for a jumper in a gap, things of that nature. Guys moving, trying to get us offsides if it is a longer field goal.

Q. On those longer field goals, knowing the trajectory is probably going to have to be lower, does that change the teaching points? Because if they stand, it might – (Dave Zangaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: You try to treat everything the same. Yes, there’s a difference in how on the longer kick, it has to get a little bit lower to get going right there.

When you have wind, it really doesn’t change that much. But again, we still want to rise with power. And we are trying to stop the yards of penetration. The more yards you get of penetration, the easier it is to get their hands up. If you stonewall them one yard off their penetration, they won’t be able to get the height and jump because the ball should be higher elevated by that point.

For us, it’s rising with power, stopping the initial penetration, where they can’t get their hands up and create a larger defense.

Q. For clarity, the three catastrophic plays you’re referring to are the field goal block, the punt block, and CB Isaiah Rodgers pushing the guy into DB Cooper DeJean? (Jimmy Kempski)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah.

Q. What went into CB Isaiah Rodgers’ now being the kick returner? (Jeff McLane)

MICHAEL CLAY: You saw his film from Indianapolis. He’s dynamic and he has great speed. He has great vision as a kickoff returner. I know we’ve only put him in the last couple games, but the cool thing about Isaiah is he’ll text every day what he wants to see off kickoff return, what he wants to off field goal block, how we are doing stuff on punt return.

So that’s really cool to see that he’s taking the initiative as a guy right there. Thinking of different types of schemes, what he saw on the field during the play right there. For me to get that input and implement it for the other ten guys that are blocking for him to get him the one that breaks, the one that gets the momentum going for the kickoff return team.

There were a couple instances where we’re really one block away from creasing one. I know we had one right after the two-minute warning where we were just one block away. [Browns LB Winston Reid] 59 off the back side was able to get him down when there was a crease right there from the front side and back side, kind of splitting. I just have to do a better job of getting those guys to all buy in and get that final block.

It’s always one block away. Everybody says ‘You’re one block away, one thing away.’ We’ve got to make sure there’s no more ‘one block away’ and we are getting those big returns to the 35, to the 40, and now you put the team in a little bit of a bind.

Q. You’ve discussed the way DB Cooper DeJean has been playing as a punt returner. Were there any discussions, with him becoming a starter on defense, of potentially replacing him at that position [punt returner]? (Chris Franklin)

MICHAEL CLAY: Cooper, you saw his film at Iowa. I think he’s starting to understand and realize that the speed in the NFL is far different than what it is at Iowa. But I thought he did a fantastic job of tracking the ball. It was a little windy, lefty punter. He did a great job tracking it. The more times he got vertical, you saw what he can do when he does get vertical. Getting that 13-yard return, the first one, kind of get his feet wet, get that confidence up.

And that last one was huge. A backed-up situation, you get a 19-yard return, you give the ball to the offense at the minus 47. Shorter field for them. So, I think him understanding: one, get the ball to the offense. You’ve got dynamic athletes, dynamic players such as [RB] Saquon [Barkley], [WR] A.J. Brown, [WR] DeVonta [Smith], [QB] Jalen Hurts. You give them the ball, you’re going to be, more often than not, getting some points.

So that’s one, just understanding it. Then, just getting more comfortable with the ball security and everything, because he does a great job tracking the ball. Him getting the ball security and getting north and south, he’s a lot bigger than people perceive him to be. He’s got some build to him where he could get it, 10, 12 yards. Shoot, that’s great. That’s an extra first down for the offense right there. So just that understanding.

And again, he’s just going to get better and better the more opportunities he’s going to get.

Q. You fielded one inside the 5. What’s the coaching point on that these days? Are you okay with that, or has that changed because punters are so good at hitting – (Jimmy Kempski)

MICHAEL CLAY: It’s almost, you’re darned if you do, darned if you don’t. If you remember last year, Tampa Bay, [WR Britain] Covey caught one at the 5 and turned it into a 52-yard return. It all depends on what the punt is. If they are closer to midfield, all right, let’s take the law of averages and do that right there.

If they are backed up and he hits a 70-yard punt, it’s going to hard for them to cover that, and you may be able to get out there. It’s almost a ‘darned if you did, darned if you didn’t’ situation.

I’m not going to fault him. The only thing I would really say for him is to get that vertical and protect that ball. You get to the 15, all right, we’re good. You’re out of that backed up situation for the offense.

So again, it goes game by game, punter by punter. [Browns P Corey] Bojorquez had a couple where it hit at the 3 and checked up, and now the ball is at the 1. So, it’s one of those things that goes week to week, but we have our base rules depending on where the field position is.

Q. As a coordinator, what’s your approach in meetings when you have these, as you called them, catastrophic events on special teams? (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: I think I learned a lot for myself a few years back. Talking to the players, especially the specialists, they never want to see you change who you are in terms of – if you are super angry at some point, for example, they may think you’re pressing, or you’re feeling something.

I try to come in here every day the same person regardless. And there are a lot of coaching moments. I hear from coaches that I have much respect for, [Assistant Special Teams Coordinator Joe Pannunzio] Joe P, if there weren’t coaching moments, we wouldn’t have jobs. There were computers telling you what to do in an app.

So, when players do make mistakes, you have to take it as a learning curve not just for that moment, but for the rest. Because in the NFL, until you prove you can stop it, you’re going to see it again. So, it’s more being able to explain to them how we want to do it, how to correct it, know it’s coming, and then once it comes again – it may be dormant for a couple weeks – it’s going to come back until you can stop it multiple times.

It’s more the teaching lessons and me being able to explain to guys differently. Some guys take different coaching, they like to get yelled at. Some guys don’t like to get yelled at. It’s me just understanding, they are their own different people.

As long as we all collectively understand what we need to get done to be a successful program here. And again, it’s 5 weeks in. Do we want those three? Absolutely not. That falls on me. But we have 12 more opportunities to put all those aside, and by the end of it, we should be happy with what we want to put out there.

There have been some good moments. You see [Cooper DeJean] Coop getting 19 yards, the punt return team going. Isaiah blocking a kick. All great things. But again, one bad mistake on special teams is always magnified, and we can’t have any of that.

Q. I noticed you worked out P Colton Spangler again. How important is it to get the returners looks against left-footed punters? Is that the thought process behind it? (John McMullen)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, the different spin off the wind is just completely 180 from what a righty is. Just to see the ball off the foot for these guys, just so they feel comfortable.

You never want to put a guy, especially a younger cat, his first time seeing it is in in-game action. Let’s see it where I feel good with it. The great thing about it, when you get the JUGS, you can turn the wheels around, and it gives you a lefty spin.

So the more times they are able to see it – and it’s funny, I think we have seven lefty punters this season. So that’s been pretty high, compared to years I’ve been – three of the last four are all lefties. So, we’ve just got to get used to it and see it. But after you see it a few times, you start getting a lot more comfortable with it.

Q. There’s been an influx of 50-yard field goal attempts and successes around the league. Besides kickers just being better, what do you attribute that rise in that success rate to? (Chris Franklin)

MICHAEL CLAY: I think you guys pointed this out after Week 2, it was 90-something percent. I think that number has dropped a little bit. There’s a lot more kicks being blocked, there’s a lot more missed kicks. You saw last night, there were, I think four of them in the game.

But again, just like anything else, these athletes get better. Their technique gets better. But Mother Nature is still undefeated, and you saw, there was a little wind at MetLife, and the ball moved a little bit.

So as the weather starts to decline, so to say I think those averages will start to balance out. But it’s exciting, from an outside eye, if you see a guy attempt a 65-yarder. Can he do it, can he not do it?

You want to have as much confidence as you possibly can in your kicker that they can hit a game-winner from those ranges. But again, I think the law of averages will start to even out.

But just like anything else, these guys are getting good. We’ve just got to be able to adapt, get pressure, and affect the kick from a field goal block standpoint.

Q. A small personnel question: it looks like you have LB Zack Baun on punt block, but not LB Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. out there on some of the punt units. Why is that? (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: On punt? Yeah, [LB] Zack [Baun] had been doing a high clip at a high level. And [LB Jeremiah Trotter, Jr.] Trot, he was in there in that Atlanta game. It’s not like he can’t do it.

But again, it’s just getting guys comfortable. You never want to put too much pressure on somebody. And he does a great job in practice. Doesn’t mean he won’t be out there.

But again, there are guys that have seen a lot of rushes that you feel have a comfort level with it. And Trot is doing an amazing job for us: punt return, kickoff, kickoff return, he’s doing great. Punt is going to be the hardest for a rookie. You go from spread to ‘Now I’ve got to really sort it out like an offensive lineman.’ It’ll take a little time, but he’s doing a great job in practice. And maybe at some point, you will see him in there, just like the Atlanta game when he went out there, had his first career tackle. Some pretty cool stuff out of Trot.

But again, Zack has seen a lot of punts, knows what he’s doing, and you get a high athlete like that to go make a play in coverage, it’s great.