Michael Clay

Q. What did you see on that WR Britain Covey punt return down inside the 20? What does he do well and what did he show you on that play? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: Covey’s doing what he’s done since I’ve seen him play at Utah. He does a really good job of setting up the return, making the first guy miss. He does a great job after he beats that first wave of understanding [how] to get downhill. It’s tougher on the coverage team when somebody is almost playing a little game of chicken with you, which way he’s going to go. He’s so shifty in terms of that.

Again, the returns don’t start without the help of all the other 10 guys in front of him. [DB] Kenny Moore II and Jay [CB Jonathan] Jones, veteran guys, did a heck of a job on that vise on the left side. I don’t think the gunner got past the 15-yard line. We put a lot on [CB] Kelee [Ringo]’s plate to get the return started. Then [TE] Josiah [Deguara] had a great block coming back, leading with his hands to almost take out two guys with his block, kind of took out the unblocked guy we left run free.

Then, Covey kind of did the rest himself. You see a lot of guys that’ll run out of bounds after they get certain — he’s not looking to run out of bounds. He’s trying to get that cut back to get more yards, which you can really appreciate. That was just really good complimentary football to go from a backed-up punt, defense three-and-out, big return, then to a touchdown. That’s what makes football just the ultimate team game.

Q. With RB Tank Bigsby sidelined, what do you think about your options at kick return here? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: We’ve obviously shuffled some guys around depending on week to week. Like I said last week, the week-to-week basis, we’re going to look into all of our options. Obviously, Covey’s one of them. He’s been a kickoff returner for us in the past. We have some great guys that are in this room, on this roster, that have had some experience doing it. Again, we’re going to rely on everybody — the 53, the 63 with the practice squad. It’s always going to be a full cohort effort this week.

Q. What’s a week like this like though when you have so many injuries and obviously there’s a big trickle down to special teams? (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: Everybody’s got problems. Everybody’s got professional problems. Everybody’s got personal problems. Jacksonville don’t care about our problems, so we’re not going to dwell on it. It’s not going to be, ‘Woe is me.’ It’s going to be everybody that sits in this room. I told them Monday after we cleaned up the tape against the Rams, it’s going to be everybody hand in hand, [in] lockstep, to get this the right way we want. Again, it’s not just one person or two people. It’s going to be the entirety of the team to help out. You may see some guys that have a majority role on offense or defense have to play a couple roles, but it is what it is. That’s what we do. That’s what we do in special teams. We rely on everybody and I think the guys just want to have the best results possible, so they’ll do what they can moving forward.

Q. To see K Jake Elliott hit the 56-yarder, he’s two-for-two on 50-yarders this year. I mean, what does that say about him and how he’s doing so far? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: I think that just shows how strong he is mentally [and] still physically, how gifted he is as a kicker. I can’t speak for how Jake feels about it. You’d have to ask him. But for me, I’ve never lost that confidence. I see him every day when we’re out on the practice field, putting in the work, grinding it out — not just working on his field goals, but also his kickoffs to help out the team any way he can. I’ve always said it, I think for years now that I could talk about him, Braden, now [LS] Rocco [Underwood] for hours on end. For him, I think it’s just one of those things that you just see him have that mental fortitude to go out there in some tough conditions — wet, windy — his number was called and he answered the bell.

Q. Another punt inside of the 10 for P Braden Mann, what’s his preparation like behind the scenes just to get to those results? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: I’ve never seen a punter punt more than Braden Mann does [on] a week-to-week basis, but he is so — Everybody talks about being a critic. Nobody’s a bigger critic on themselves than Braden Mann, and he’s going to work out what he needs to work out throughout the entirety of it, and it’s kudos to him. Also, shout out my guy [Assistant Equipment Manager] Nick Still on Thursdays. He’s the equipment guy that shags for Braden. We’ll have to get him a cave helmet with a light as the lights kind of dwindle down. He just works his tail off from Wednesday through Friday, getting everything dialed in, how he likes it, what we talk about, how we want to approach the game.

Again, like I said, watching him prepare is pretty awesome. That’s what you like about coaching is seeing how these guys get to a week-to-week basis on game day, and it’s more kudos to him how he performs on Sunday, Monday, whatever it is.

Q. How many punts would you estimate? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Brother, that number is infinite. Infinite. I have no clue. I gave up on that probably four weeks [after] we got him in ’23. I was like, ‘You know what? Whatever gets you to Sunday, I’m going to back up every time.’

Q. Going back to WR Britain Covey, he looked like there was a time in the game that he fielded a punt. Gunner was standing in his face. He didn’t fair catch it. Got a few yards, I think. What do you like to see in that situation? Were you okay with him not calling a fair catch there? (Ed Kracz)

Michael Clay: I’ve been around Covey now for so long. I’m not going to second guess his decision-making. Everything’s not cookie cutter. Not everything’s black and white. I think it’s more [about] him having that trust in Kelee on the one-on-one out there, that he’s going to get any gunner out there stopped. I’m never going to second guess what they do in the game. I’m not the one in between the white lines. We build that trust through practice, through different scenarios, different situations. That’s more of a question for him, to have what his thought process is.

For me, it’s like, he secured the ball, he got a couple yards, went down, secured it in that case. If he doesn’t catch the ball, who knows what that ball does? If it bounces and now goes inside the 15. It’s just more of that trust I have in Covey, the trust he has in Kelee and the other guys blocking for him. Hindsight’s 20/20 after you see it on the film, but I’ll never be one to second guess. It’s more of just learning, then talk about it, then moving on to the next play because it happens fast.

Q. Circumstance might mean RB Will Shipley has a larger role in the offense this week. He does a lot for you. How does that week go? I know you’re not going to tell, but how does that week go? How quickly do you know you’re going to have his normal role or how does that sort of develop? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: I’m also never going to put the players in a disadvantage in their scenario. If he happens to be the lead bell cow, that would be selfish of me to ask him to do whatever he has to do on special teams. That’s why football is the ultimate team game. That’s why we’re going to rely on other guys that may have to carry that load that he had as a four-core guy we rely on. That’s what we do from the beginning of OTAs to training camp to now — train everybody to do multiple different things.

You’ll see some guys out there. I mean, on the last punt, you saw [OLB] Jalyx Hunt out there at the wing when Tank went down. It’s just a very unselfish move from these guys and they know we could trust those guys in those scenarios. It’s going to be a full team effort to mitigate some of the things that have happened. Injuries [are a] part of the game, but we’re going to rely on a whole bunch of different people.

We’re going to rely on our guys that perform at a high level. I though Kelee and [LB] Smael [Mondon] did a great job bouncing back after the Monday night game. I think Smael had two solo tackles and two assisted tackles. Kelee had one solo and two assisted. Those production guys, they’re going to have to step up, and we know we could rely on them. It’s going to be a full team effort to mitigate all the stuff that happens with injuries.

Q. What’s the scouting report on the Jaguars’ special teams? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: Very, very good unit. [Jaguars Associate Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator] Heath [Farwell] obviously played in the NFL for a long time. Like I talked about with [Rams Special Teams Coordinator] Bubba [Ventrone] last week, they carry the same type of tenacity that he played with as a former player. Obviously, [Jaguars WR] Parker Washington is a dangerous punt returner. I think he had two touchdowns last year and also had a 43-yarder last year. I think he actually had one called back, so that would’ve made three. He’s quick. He’s got home-run-hitting ability.

[Jaguars P] Logan Cooke and [Jaguars K] Cam Little, they’re very, very good specialists. Logan Cooke, I think has every kick in the bag, banana ball, regular, pull hook, he’s been doing it for a long time. The guy that I don’t think — I think he has the respect in the special teams world, but that’s probably [overlooked], is [Jaguars LS] Ross Matiscik. I think he’s probably one of the best coverage long snappers, one of the better athletes out there. When you get out there on punt return, you usually kind of let the long snapper run free. You’ve got to count him in the box because I think he has 24 career tackles as a long snapper.

We’ve got our hands full. We’re developing that game plan, almost done with that. Then send it out to the players tonight, then it’s back to work tomorrow, starting with punt, kickoff return, and get a nice jump on the week and be ready to go play in London.

Q. What’s your view of international games and is it something you look forward to or is it just a long flight in the game for you? (Zach Berman)

Michael Clay: It’s a free vacation to a different continent; that’s it for me. [Jokingly.] It’s all business more than anything else. I’ve been fortunate enough in my offseason to visit London, love London. I think it’s a really cool place, a lot of different things. But for us, this is solely a business trip, and we’ve got to be able to go out there and regardless of where they put that ball down, we’ve got to be able to go out there and help the team win any way we can.

Q. Have you been to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before and do you do any pre kind of work or talk to other special teams coordinators in the offseason in terms of kicking there, punting there? (Jeff McLane)

Michael Clay: Not necessarily. I haven’t been to Hotspur Stadium. I’ve been to Arsenal, I’ve been to Man City, just in different travels. But me and [Special Teams Assistant] Tyler [Brown], we kind of look at how it’s kind of constructed, the stadium. The cool thing about soccer stadiums is that they create the elements by just having the top open right there. Then the fans are covered up, which I think is a really cool concept for soccer and everything like that. That kind of mitigates a little bit of the wind if there is wind. There’re so many filmed games of being in Tottenham Stadium that you could kind of see. There [were] a little bit of sunlight and shadows last week with Indianapolis and Washington, so you always take that into [account.] But for the most part, we’re just like anybody else looking at the weather every day and go off that.

Q. On that CB Kelee Ringo penalty, was he anticipating them to make the first contact and how do you coach that? (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: It’s just one of those things where you do try to anticipate, and we try to tell them, ‘Hey, we want to run the sideline hash.’ Usually, when that happens and you take that up field on the sideline hash, they’re going to have to contact you. It’s one of those things that we can’t have because it puts everybody else at risk. With that second punt, you just ran, shoot, 50 yards as fast as you can, and they have to bring you back. That puts a lot of strain on the rest of the punt team. [It’s] something we could learn [from] and coach off of.

I thought Braden did a heck of a job coming back with a 49-yard out of bounds to take it upon himself and help everybody else out. Again, that’s an extra strain on the team, but something we could learn [from] and something that he’ll learn off of and correct. It’s one of those things where we can’t put a non-physical penalty out there, something that we know that we can’t do. [We’re] able to overcome it, but we can’t have any more of those.

Q. One more on WR Britain Covey. A lot of returners would rather fair catch or let a ball go out of bounds to protect their average. He doesn’t seem to care about that. He’d rather get three yards than have no return to protect his average. What does that say about him? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: He’s one of the more unselfish players that you can be. Those three yards, those six yards, they may come in handy at some point. A 38-yarder that’s bouncing the ball and you only get four yards, shoot, that’s 34. You’re going to be in far better field possession. It’s just understanding the whole complexities of the game, not just protecting your stats or [anything] like that. The more often that he’s able to get returns just like he did in that game, his average will be just fine, but it’s more of, ‘What am I going to do to help the team in that particular instance for the game?’ Which, you can always respect as a teammate, as a coach, man to man, that he’s going to do something unselfish that’s going to be for the betterment of the team.

Q. If I can follow up on RB Will Shipley. I know obviously you might not have him as much as typically, but what is his value to your special teams here? I mean, I know he’s all four-core and everything, just what he means? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: Getting Will our first year in ’24 and a rookie being a personal protector, that puts a lot of strain on him. I thought he did a great job of understanding what his role was. Then he’s just kind of taken that leadership role over the last two and a half, three years. Will, during the week, he’s a very calm, cool, collected cat, really doesn’t get too high, but he brings that fire and desire on game days. If something’s not right, he will let somebody know that it’s not right, which we like and see out of him. He does it in practice. If something happens on punt pro and we miss something, he was not afraid to get on his teammates, and you’ve got to respect that. A guy that’s able to do that and care so much about it is not just the person he is helping correct. It’s the entirety of the unit saying this is a player-run special teams unit we try to involve. If he says something, he’s the captain of the unit, we go with that. I don’t think we’ll lose any of that because he’ll sit in this room the next couple days, and [give] any input or help out anybody that may be taking his place on the units, he’s going to be more than happy to help and get them ready for Sunday.

Q. LS Rocco Underwood is now a guy that you can talk about for hours on end. What stood out to you about him in the first four weeks as part of the operation and how he’s grown as the long snapper? (Cayden Steele)

Michael Clay: Usually, when you don’t talk about the long snapper for the first four games, he’s doing a pretty good job. I thought he had one of his best snaps in that 56-yard field goal in the rain with the wind. I mean, he threw perfect laces, perfect height. Braden, all he had to do was catch it and put it down. He’s just maturing. He’s improving on everything. We still don’t give him easy looks at practice. We’re going to make it as hard as we possibly can, and that’s a kudos to the practice squad guys, [OLB] Keyshawn James-Newby, [OLB] Mason Reiger. Those guys give him such great looks that when it comes to the game, it comes so naturally to him and maybe even slowed down a little bit. For him to keep improving his footwork, his strength, moving guys out — He had to go against [Rams DE] Braden Fiske a couple times on punt return, [and] he did a good job of using his technique, running his feet, kicking his hip, getting him wide right there. We’re still going to make it extremely hard for Rocco, but he’s doing a really good job thus far.

Q. Head Coach Nick Sirianni has said several times, including this morning, that he coaches his coaches really hard. How do you feel that? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: You don’t want to be coddled. You never want to be coddled in life. When he demands something, he demands something, and it’s on us, man-to-man, to fill that void of whatever he asks. I’d rather have somebody chew me out than kind of go backwards and kind of be laissez faire with it. You can only respect somebody that you report to and you want to give all you can for him in terms of, just as the head coach, the organization, to be able to put our right foot forward and help the team out [as much as] we possibly can from a special teams unit.