Michael Clay

Q. What was the key to Eagles S Sydney Brown’s play? (Dave Zangaro)

MICHAEL CLAY: You know, that play by Sydney was outstanding, want to get some juice back into the stadium right there. Sydney did a great job with his release, outside release and using his speed to carve, and it was a good enough hang time from [Eagles P] Braden [Mann] to allow him to get down there. He shot outside-in and got his helmet on the ball right there.

Then it was really, really impressive of [Eagles CB] Kelee [Ringo] in that situation not kicking the ball out of bounds and not rolling all over the place to get it to his side. It’s always nice to have an energy-type play like that come from special teams.

Q. How difficult is the timing of that hit for Eagles S Sydney Brown, knowing when the ball is going to get there? (EJ Smith)

MICHAEL CLAY: It’s extremely difficult. You always want these guys to be ultra aggressive going down the field but there is times, late fair catch and you have to bail out at the same time. It almost comes with a feel and he timed it out perfectly. Allowed the guy to kind of take a step, and I don’t think he really saw Sydney out of his peripheral and Sydney made a heck of a play to give a short field to our offense.

Q. With the fair catches, what’s the conversation with Eagles DB/PR Cooper DeJean like? What’s the approach there with him in terms of that strategy? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: To catch the ball. He did a great job with it. It was a late fair catch. He was kind of judging the ball. He had a banana ball. Saw it. Was able to get squared up. Threw up the fair catch, and we got the ball at the 7-yard line right there.

Q. Is there a time threshold that you work with guys? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: I don’t think you ever have a time threshold. A guy could hit the ball three seconds; a guy could have five seconds. When you know that ball is really up there, I think you get a better chance.

But when it’s in that mid-range area and it’s starting to flail a little bit, it just comes to a feel. I think the more times he does it, the more comfortable he gets it, and he’s probably his own hardest critic when it comes to those fair catches.

But he still stayed calm and composed, and it’s tough for a rookie to do that. And after playing so much on defense, he did a great job with it and saved some field position. Because those balls, those banana ball-types fluster returners, and that ball hits the ground and now the ball is at three [yard line] instead of the nine [yard line] right there. He did an outstanding job with it.

Q. In the bigger picture, how nice has it been to have Eagles S Sydney Brown back, and what did you see from him during that long layoff as far as his rehab? (Reuben Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: I mean, to watch Sydney prepare to get his body back was something kind of astonishing just from a physical — he had just tore that ACL in January and to come back and still running in September or October and there’s always the anticipation for him to get back. And it’s always nice, you know, you could kind of see himself still believing in that knee getting back in that third game on grass and going out there and making a huge play and he’s going to keep getting better and more comfortable with special teams.

From an outside looking in at him, his rehab is astonishing just how much preparation and hard work went into it to get back as soon as he possibly can.

Q. Is there any doubt in your mind that he’s going to be a starting safety in this league at some point? (Bob Brookover)

MICHAEL CLAY: I tell everybody on special teams: ‘My sole goal is for you to start on offense and defense. I want you to be the best possible player you can be whether that’s starting on special teams and you get that promotion to offense and defense.’

It’s one of the greater things I can feel as a coach. You can see that from [Eagles S] Reed Blankenship in his third year; now he’s the starter. He played a lot of special teams for us.

Then I had [former 49ers RB] Raheem [Mostert] in San Francisco being the starting running back.

I hope he gets to play that starting spot, but until that happens we’re very, very happy to have him on special teams.

Q. When you think back to March and you get the Eagles LB Zack Baun tape, are you thinking core special teams player or are you thinking starting inside linebacker? (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: I’m thinking whatever he can do to help this team, I’m all for it whether it’s a core four player and he’s done an amazing job for the defense to be that starter and you can see he’s playing at a high clip right now.

Again, it’s one of those things similar to [Eagles S] Sydney [Brown]. If you’re the starting MIKE linebacker or WILL linebacker, more power to you and I’m going to be your biggest fan right there.

And if I need you in a tough spot I’m going to ask you, and Zack is that type of selfless player that he’ll give us that spot. You can see he’s still starting on punt right here, but it’s awesome to see those two guys or even [Eagles LB] Nakobe [Dean] getting that starting spot at linebacker and playing at a very high level.

Q. Eagles K Jake Elliott is 0-for-3 on 50-plus yard field goals this year. What’s the conversation with him like and what’s the review on that kind of performance? (Brooks Kubena)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I mean, with how great of a performance there is, there’s always going to be harsh criticism for 50-plus yards, but just like anything else, when it’s past 50 yards, the percentages go down. And I think when I first took this job those 40-to-49, what we call the money kicks. He’s been doing a great job with that.

But Jake is such a competitor, and any time he walks out on that field, he thinks that ball is going in. There’s nothing for me to say to Jake, like, this, that, or the other. Jake understands how to perform at a high level and he’s done it for a while so I’m not too worried about Jake. It’s just keep pushing how good of a kicker he is and he knows he’s a good kicker.

Q. Seems like he’s getting fewer opportunities than maybe he’s ever had in his career to this point in the season. How tough is that? (Bob Brookover)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I mean, you kind of look at it. We kind of looked at it. If you look over the last three years, he’s gotten almost the same type of kicks, it’s just not at the same magnitude. He’s 10-for-13. I think he was 9-for-11 at this point last year; 10-for-12.

The kicks are coming. But he’s always ready when he gets an opportunity whether that’s 38-yarder or 53-yarder. He’s always prepared in the net. Once that offense gets the ball, he’s in the net preparing for his number to be called.

Q. And so if there’s a perception on the outside that he might be cold going into a game because he has not kicked in a while, is that not the case because of the kicking in the net? (Zach Berman)

MICHAEL CLAY: I mean, Jake, he’s prepared. He’s prepared like he’s always been prepared. When our number is called, we go out there with the utmost confidence in our field goal protection and Jake; the operation that we are going to get the points given to us when our number is called.

Q. When you guys are trying that 57-yard field goal late in the game, I assume you probably have a maximum distance for what he can try at that point. Is that how it works and does Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni talk to you about that? (Martin Frank)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, we always have a conversation what we feel the max is, different situations here and there. But again, when our number is called, Jake has that mentality like, ‘Alright, they called my number, they called our unit. Let’s go get these points whenever we can.’

Q. Last one on Eagles S Sydney Brown. Saw you worked with him on Thursday last week. You guys were doing well with Eagles CB Kelee Ringo and Eagles S Tristin McCollum at gunners. Was there a point where you knew he was back and could take over that role? (John McMullen)

MICHAEL CLAY: Yeah, I think you always — it’s always a pleasure when you have multiple guys that can play gunner at a high level; and again, just for Sydney to get that confidence back out there, I don’t know what his mental — you guys can probably ask him, but he hurt his knee on a gunner play. So it’s more just getting him used to it.

And working with Sydney, you get to know the person and how he likes to — how he sees things, and he’s also his harshest critic. Even in the game, you know, he’s talking about, ‘I could do better, I could do better at this. I could do a better release.’

It’s just the more confidence he gets, you could just see it’s oozing out. And for him to be out there, and he sets the tone on the outside, and let’s not take anything way from Kelee. Kelee has been doing an outstanding job at gunner, kind of taking that full-time job as a gunner. Those two guys out there, they come with some force. They come with some speed.

So we have just got to keep working them, and at some point teams may start to double him. We are fortunate enough that Eagles RB Will Shipley has done an outstanding job with [punt protection] if they do send out four for two guys. He’s been a free runner and he made a huge play in the open field against [Jaguars WR Austin] Trammell to help flip the field with a good punt by [Eagles P] Braden [Mann].

If people try to stop Kelee and Sydney, we feel confident in our interior protection. One, to protect, and then get out and cover it and try to mitigate any big returns.