Michael Clay

Q. Are you at the point where you kind of expect DT Jalen Carter to block those kicks at this point? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: It’s nice to have him on our team. It’s nice to have that field-goal block unit. He takes pride in the field-goal block unit. Last week, [Assistant Special Teams Coordinator/Director of Team Relationships] Joe [Pannunzio] had the floor for about seven minutes to show the importance of our field-goal block team, and they all take it to heart, how they could change a game. That’s the second time we’ve kind of helped change the outcome of the game off an extra point. It’s one of those things where it’s all the credit to the players because they take pride in their craft, and they know they can affect the game in the little aspect of field-goal block that it is.

Q. What goes into his ability to block kicks, DT Jalen Carter specifically? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: A lot of it is his natural instincts of being a really good football player, and that helps him out a lot. He does a great job with his initial get-off. If you watch him, he studies the rhythm of the kicker, holder and snapper to get that extra penetration, that 2 to 3 yards that we preach. Once you get past that long snapper and you get your hands up, he’s been given a great ability from the man upstairs to have athletic ability to get your hands up and block a kick. It goes to him, it goes to BY [DT Byron Young] getting another push on him, [DT] Jordan Davis, [DT] Moro [Ojomo]. Those guys take pride in it, and it’s always great to have that. It makes it easy to coach field block.

Q. What did you like that affected the miss later on? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Anytime you have a pressure situation, and again, it’s hard to kick in the NFL, especially 50-plus. We went to the opposite side, and they got another good push in there with Moro, JC [DT Jalen Carter] and JD [Jordan Davis]. Again, I can’t talk about — I don’t know what the kicker was thinking in that instance right there, but we always like to think that we can affect the kicker at some point after you do block one or you get some good pressure and get around his feet. We’re going to keep harping at it and find different ways we can affect the game in all aspects.

Q. What were you thinking when you saw WR Darius Cooper as a gunner run down field and run over the Commanders defender to make that tackle downfield? How have you seen him grow as a special teams player and the impact he can have? (Cayden Steele)

Michael Clay: I kind of felt that a little bit last year in the second half of his rookie campaign. He was playing a lot more special teams, being a core-four guy. Obviously, he had a year to sit behind [CB] Kelee [Ringo] and [Atlanta Falcons DB] Sydney [Brown] and just kind of understand the physical nature of a gunner. We knew he had that in him. If we didn’t think he had that in him, he wouldn’t be out there, but he showed that a guy who plays offense can go out there in his first real four-core special teams split game and have three and a half tackles, four tackles. It is pretty impressive. He just wants to get better and better in that phase and any way to help the team.

Q. When it comes to the directional stuff with P Braden Mann, when he’s cooking like that, how much of a luxury is it to have him flip in field position? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: It’s definitely a luxury. He works at his craft as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen on the football field. We have a great line of communication on where he wants to go, how he feels, the wind and everything of that nature. I always tell him, ‘Just commit to it. Pick a direction we want to go, commit to it and everything else will play out.’ I thought he did an unbelievable job last game to help flip the field. I know he was definitely cooking in the first half. Then his last punt, 51 yards into the right corner, that’s pretty impressive for him, but he’s still going to think he could do better in some aspects. But it’s always a luxury to have a punter of that caliber.

Q. How does he make the ball do a sudden left turn after it hits the ground? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: I don’t think he has any control of that. There’s obviously different punts you can hit, but once it leaves his foot, I don’t think he has a joystick where he can control it. There are some aspects to it when you do kick a ball a certain way, you may expect a different trajectory. I think [Former Tennessee Titans P] Johnny Hekker brought that a little bit when he was in L.A., with the type of kicks he was hitting where it would just take a sharp right turn. Once that ball leaves his foot, I think he’s just at the mercy of the bounce, but at times, you do get a nice bounce, and it’s fortunate for us. I thought the gunners and the interior did a good job. You see a lot of the times guys get overzealous and they kick the ball into the end zone. They did a good job – [CB] Kelee [Ringo], [RB] Tank [Bigsby], [TE] E.J. [Jenkins] — just kind of getting around and letting that ball come to rest.

Q. Head Coach Nick Sirianni had talked about your success rate on onsides kicks. What do you think has been the reason behind that? (Jeff McLane)

Michael Clay: The guys put a lot of effort into it in our walkthroughs throughout the week. When we’re doing something that doesn’t involve them, [TE] Dallas [Goedert], Smitty [WR DeVonta Smith], all the guys that can possibly be on hands, they pull [K] Jake [Elliott] aside or Jake gets them, and he gives them a few kicks so they’re able to see different bounces. They also have the luxury that Jake gives them different looks. We really pride ourselves on Friday in our walkthrough that it’s an opportunity to go win the game. The players have such pride that they have the luxury and the right that they can go out there and win the game. It was pretty cool on Sunday. I was like, ‘Hey, this is our opportunity to go close it out.’ They were all in it together, ready to go close it out. Very similar to field-goal block. I think it’s just the pride that these players have in this league to go out there and prove a point that they could go help win a game in any way they can.

Q. Getting contributions from players like DT Jalen Carter, WR DeVonta Smith — Is that about those players individually or is that something organizationally that you get that buy-in? (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: It’s organizationally — it’s probably even leaguewide. Nobody wants to go out there and put a bad performance out there or have this stigma that you’re not a team player. I think it’s organizationally. It’s personal for them, Smitty, JC [Jalen Carter], whoever’s starting. [CB] Riq Woolen had an unbelievable rep on our D-stay on punt return to mitigate the gunner getting down there and let [WR Britian] Covey get 15 yards. Those 15 yards are huge in our eyes because you’re not starting inside the 20-yard line, inside the 10-yard line; you’re starting out the 25. It helps the offense. It’s just a whole-player perspective, organization perspective that we’re going to do anything we possibly can to help win a game.

Q. A couple of the kick coverage reps did not go that well. What did you see on film? (Jeff Neiburg)

Michael Clay: A lot of it was just we had the guy, and we stopped our feet on contact. We really got to harp on that. I thought our lane discipline was pretty good outside of one. The last one, I thought we just jumped out of the lane, but the first kickoff, I know [LB] Smael [Mondon] made contact at the 28-yard line, and his feet died on contact. Returners nowadays, they’re strong. They’re going to fall forward. We’ve got to be able to go body to body and run our feet and cut the motor right in there. Then the one to the left, we just missed a tackle off the left side, and he gets to the 32-yard line. Those little leakages of yards where you make contact at the 25, 26, but you don’t run your feet and you stop on contact, these guys are going to drag you for 4 to 8 yards right there, and those add up, which we don’t want. For us, I think tackling is a lot of mentality in terms of arriving with violence. You have to arrive knowing I could get this guy down in one shot. A lot of it has to do with our mindset, and we’re going to get better at it. We’re going to harp on it. We’re going to preach at it. Again, I think a lot of it just has to do with our mindset of arriving with violence.

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

Michael Clay: Very good unit. Obviously, they were coached by a very good special teams coordinator in [Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator John] Bonesy [Fassel]. He was in Dallas while I was here when we had our battles ourselves. He was in L.A. when I was in San Francisco. They’re disciplined, they’re aggressive. They got a darn good returner in DK [Tennessee Titans WR Chimere Dike]. As a rookie being a first-team All-Pro, that’s nothing to fret about. They’re uber-aggressive in their punt rushes. We’ve got our work cut out. We have to be physical. We have to have that mindset going in that we’re going to build on last week. I thought we played OK last week. We could get better on a lot of aspects, but this is a long season. We’ve got to continue to grow each and every week. You never want to be a prisoner of fast success. That just kind of adds to your ego. If you have a slow success, it builds more of a character. We’ve got to do better than we did last week, and I think the players will be raring to go tomorrow when they’re in.

Q. You lost some key players on special teams from last year. You mentioned Atlanta Falcons DB Sydney Brown, and S Andre Sam’s injury probably was another couple other guys. How do you get guys like WR Darius Cooper and other guys to kind of just step in and fill that void without really missing a beat? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: I think a lot of it goes into who they are as people, who they are as players. Obviously, they’re going to go out there and give it all for the guys to the right and to the left of them. For me personally, it’s just cultivating a relation with these guys to get them like, ‘Hey, I may call on you for a few phases to help out the team,’ but anything that’s for the team, these guys are willing to go after and put their best foot forward. A lot of it just starts back in OTAs, setting the table on what we expect from a special teams unit, setting the example of like, ‘Hey, regardless of what round, undrafted, free agent, trade, we’re going to ask you to help this team out any way we can.’ The players have been receptive to it, and it’s really cool to see the fruits of their labor kind of show out.

Q. I asked about RB Tank Bigsby last week. How did he do this game? (Zach Berman)

Michael Clay: I thought he did a really good job in terms of he took what they gave him. I know his first return, they kind of kicked it wide and they went kind of hot with [Washington Commanders LB] Sonny Styles out there, and he dipped inside and Tank just took it to a one-on-one with the safety and got out to the 29-, 30-yard line. He also brought it back on his last one, and he was the unblocked guy who made the play off of that. I thought Tank did a really good job, and I thought he did a really good job in our punt pro. I’m asking him to do a little bit of extra this year in the punt pro, being the wing, and he shows out full speed ahead, a lot of energy, trying to get out there and make plays. I thought Tank did a really good job in what we asked him to do, and he didn’t try to go outside of his lane. I’m excited to keep working with Tank in all aspects that he possibly can. I have nothing but admiration for Tank.

Q. What did you make of that S Tyler Owens play against you guys? It’s kind of gone viral a little bit. (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: You have to have a different mindset to play special teams, and it’s not anything against what we were trying to do. [CB Jonathan] J Jones and [WR] Darius [Cooper], they’re fighting their tail off also to get him stopped. Everybody gets got once in the NFL. I’ve been around some great gunners that have gotten got. I’ve been around some vises, that have gotten got right in there, but you have to give kudos to him to make a heck of a play down the field. But it just shows the true strength and the athleticism that is around this league, regardless if it’s on your team or not. I told Covey, ‘Don’t leave the ground. The ground is your friend next time.’ Not like he’s got a 50-inch vertical, but I thought throughout the entirety of that play, luckily he made that play while he was 14 yards down the field on our return, but you’ve got to tip your cap to a guy that makes a play like that.