Michael Clay

Q. You’ve been saying all year that as the weather turns colder, it’s tougher for kickers. We’ve seen a lot of really good kickers miss field goals. Any thought of what’s going on with Eagles K Jake Elliott, and with a guy as accomplished as him do you just kind of not worry about it or how do you approach it? (Reuben Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I’m glad my comments didn’t come back and bite me with the weather change and everything. It’s funny with Jake, he’s such a competitor and such a good kicker you almost take it a little bit for granted when he’s out there; it’s an automatic.

But you know, I know the big question is, ‘How do you feel him?’ But I have such supreme confidence in Jake. At times, it’s just not your day. We’d be probably a little bit more on edge if the ball was sprayed all over the place.

But if you saw the three kicks, they missed in the exact same spot right off that left upright, but it was a draw and it just kind of overdrew on him with a little bit of wind.

You know, when the spray chart is all over the place, and you don’t really have an answer for that, I think it’s a little bit more worrisome. When the spray chart is right there within a couple inches, you’re – all right, that’s more of, ‘I can fix this with my aiming point’ more than anything else.

Again, Jake is such a professional and I don’t think anybody is a bigger critic than Jake on himself. He’s going to come back and work tomorrow like he always does, and you know, put his best foot forward and get us ready to go. Because we all know, you know, in these tight game situations, especially in the later half of the season it comes down to a big kick or put the lead into a two-score game. We have supreme confidence in Jake going forward and I know he’ll have supreme confidence going back in there and going to work tomorrow.

Q. Since it was the same spot after the first two missed field goals, did it take a while to gain confidence that, yes, that was the adjustment that needed to be made? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: For myself or for Jake?

Q. Like the conversation, was it, ‘Okay, maybe aim…’ (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: Again, for a kicker, it’s always a gray area. It’s never black and white because the wind does change. It could change going the opposite direction.

For the wind on that first one, it died right before he kicked it. And I’m not saying that’s the reason but he had his aiming point thinking the wind would push it back in right there and same going to the opposite end.

But he’s such a resilient cat that he’s able to come back, and he put the score to a two-possession game when we needed it and the extra points right there in those shorter field goals is no different than a basketball player seeing one go in. All right, there’s some more confidence going in splitting the uprights.

For him, I think it’s just a little bit of an aiming thing. I think everything is hindsight 20-20. If he goes back to it, I think he’d play a little bit more to the right. But I don’t think he would change anything how he was striking the ball. It was good contact. Ball was just falling right-to-left. Played a draw and the wind pushed it.

Again, him going back in and he was out there yesterday tapping some balls, he just wants to get back out there and help the team in any way he possibly can.

Q. When you review the film, are you looking at the mechanics and what they normally are with Jake and that kind of stuff? (Tim McManus)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, there was nothing like he was out of order. He had good play in terms of his leg everything and, playing a right-to-left draw which is what the kick of the day was right there and it just happened to fall off at the apex of it. So it’s not one of those things mechanically or things of that nature where he has to really go back and change everything. It was just something with the aiming point, and you know, when we come back tomorrow, get as much confidence in seeing the ball — seeing the ball go through the uprights and get us moving forward to Sunday. Because again, it’s going to come back to some big kicks going into the last six games of the regular season.

Q. What does it say about him when he misses those first two kicks it doesn’t snowball? He then made two more field goals. It didn’t affect him beyond that. (Martin Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I think that goes back to who he is as a person. He’s had so many big kicks in his career. You guys obviously know before I got here, when he was a rookie and hit a 61-yarder against the Giants, the resiliency factor. Last year in the rain against Buffalo going out there and having that mindset. For him, you know, you can’t dwell on it too much.

Just like in anything else, even as a coach or a player, like it’s the next play. We’ll review the play and try to get it corrected as quick as we possibly can. For him to come back and hit the field goals before the half and then the shorter one, 31 [yard field goal], it just helps out and just shows how resilient he is not just as a player but as a person.

Q. Eagles DB Cooper DeJean has been good as the fill-in punt returner. When WR/PR Britain Covey is good to go, is he jumping right back in as the starting punt returner? (Jimmy Kempski)

MICHAEL CLAY: I can’t say enough good things about Cooper and what he’s done, not only as a defensive player, but going back out there. We kind of had a rough start in Tampa Bay and that’s just on me as a coach more than anything else.

Getting him settled in after the bye week, he’s done an unbelievable job. Like I said before, it’s always nice to have two options. You get a little more creative with it in having both Covey, when he does return at some point and having Cooper. So going forward, we feel confident when Covey does get to come back or if it takes a little bit longer that we have Cooper back there.

Q. How do you view the similarities and differences between their styles? Do you feel like they could be complementary to one another? (EJ Smith)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, they are both very fearless as punt returners. Obviously Cooper, bigger body and he surprises you with his physique, bigger body and he does have some breakaway speed. Whereas Covey is very cerebral and finds different lanes and his vision is very good in terms of that. They complement themselves. Cooper being more of a bigger body getting downhill but Covey is no slouch either. He likes to one-cut stretch and get down the field. Having those two complementary-type individuals who catch the ball very well off the punter’s foot gives them a head start more than anything else. We don’t have to worry about it. They know, all right, this ball is going this way. I can get over there and race over and assess the situation.

Q. On Cooper’s big return a couple weeks ago, he reversed field on that. What are your typical rules for the returners when it comes to either getting north/south or taking it wide? (Dave Zangaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: I think Cooper did a really good job of puncturing first. Like I always say, starts with the guys on the outside. You see [Eagles CB] Kelee [Ringo] against [Cowboys CB C.J.] Goodwin does a heck of a good job stopping him on the initial attack and allows Coop to get five or six yards vertical north and south, and that entices the core guys to get down there.

And if he knows I’ve got some speed, a guy is head up on me and I can outrun him, that’s when I can break it to the outside and he did a great job of enticing. And then he gets outside being able to beat the core guys and take it to the sideline for that big 31-yard return.

So we always preach, get us the first down. If you get us the first down, you being in that first wave, then you can pick-and-choose if you want to bounce it or keep gashing down the field.

Q. Similar to the kickers, kickoffs, not this week, you’re going to be in a pristine environment, but as the weather gets a little bit worse, do you expect the kickoff returns to pick up a little bit? (John McMullen)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, obviously the ball is not going to travel as well. You’ve got wind, rain, whatever it may be. I think the kickoff returns have kind of gone up a little bit, just how it rolls and everything.

So we’ve been able to get a couple returns right here, and outside of — we have to really clean up the last two weeks of those three penalties. I felt like the guys have done a good job of getting north and south well and [Eagles RB Kenny Gainwell] — getting that ball to the 35, 36-yard line, it helps the offense. Obviously they don’t have to get an extra first down. They are already within there and it gets you to that fringe point where if you want to flip the field with your punt team.

Once we clean up those holding penalties and walking the back on our kickoff return, we’ve done some good stuff of just puncturing, getting past the 30-yard line getting it to the 33, 35. So got to keep repping it and working at it because it’s going to come into play the next — we have a few more home games, like playing in Baltimore. The weather is going to be a little bit dicier than it is, like you said in L.A.

So we have to be able to one, protect the ball, and get up the field and use it as a positive for our team.

Q. Did you think they were all penalties, all three of those calls? (Bob Brookover)

MICHAEL CLAY: You’re going to get me fined right there. I play whatever the refs say. They have got a hard job. It’s new for everyone. So we’ve just got to make sure our technique is fine and not give it to the refs where it may be a gray air area call or it may not that we are clean going forward.

Q. What stands out about the Rams special teams unit? (Tim McManus)

MICHAEL CLAY: They have done a really good job. I think [Rams special teams coordinator] Chase [Blackburn] has done a really good job in terms of taking that young core. [Rams P] Ethan Evans has a very strong leg for a second-year cat. I know [Rams K Joshua] Karty, again, rookie, but he’s done a good job. Has hit some big kicks for them and their field goal block team is something to watch out for. I think [Rams LB Michael Hoecht] blocked one last week against New England.

They do a great job of punishing field goal teams. So we have to be ready to protect [Eagles K] Jake [Elliott] at all costs — clean pocket, they play extremely hard. I think they take after Chase and what he was as a player. I know he played for the Giants for a while, and being in Carolina, they are a physical unit. We have to be able to come back tomorrow and understand that this team is very physical and we have to match that physicality.

Q. You mentioned Eagles RB Kenny Gainwell. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said that he’s had a bigger roll on special teams this year. What does he mean to your units? (Martin Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I don’t have enough time to tell you how much I appreciate Kenny Gainwell. Obviously I came in here when he got drafted. You know we ask him to do things and he doesn’t blink. He says, ‘Yeah, I got you.’ He’s always wide-eyed and bright and asks great questions and he’s always willing.

He had that spell with [Eagles RB] Saquon [Barkley], then he had to come back in kickoff and all those guys dapped him up because he brought some energy to the field right there. I know we kicked a touchback but he’s down there hyping up the end zone right there to get the crowd going and I think it came in to [Eagles S] Reed [Blankenship] having that interception.

So him just buying into everything and becoming a role model for these younger guys. This guy is toting the rock but he’s still out there on two or three [special teams] phases and that really just sets the bar for these younger guys that, ‘Hey, you are playing some offense and defense, but you can also contribute on special teams.’