Michael Clay

How important was it for K Jake Elliott to hit a long field goal in Game one? (Al Thompson)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I don’t know the importance for Jake and himself, but importance for our team to push that to a four-point game. But obviously it always starts with the operation, then to the protection and Jake has been having a really good camp, good preseason, in that Jets game having two 50-plus yard field goals and to go out there to put us up at a four-point game was awesome to see. I know who Jake Elliott is. Hopefully everybody else knows who Jake Elliott is. He’s a hell of a kicker and it’s great for him to see that go through the uprights pretty straight and [P] Braden [Mann] pretty much called it pretty early that the ball went in, so awesome to see.

What’s your evaluation of RB Tank Bigsby as a returner and what type of upside do you think he brings in that area? (Cayden Steele)

Michael Clay: As I watch film across the league the last couple years he’s popped up a lot in Jacksonville in terms of those big 40-yard chunk runs. Being a running back, he has that natural vision and feel when it comes to return the ball. So very excited for anybody that we get on our roster to work with them. But again, it is more just getting him into a place. There’s a lot that happens for a guy that gets traded outside of this building, but to get him into a calm place, get him caught up with everything we want to do here and see his talents excel on Sunday. How much

How much more value is there in that position as a kick returner now with the league change? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I mean I think everybody kind of saw what the league was doing. I think the uptick in returns, you even see last night’s game the returns could help you in the field position wise, whether that’s being smart and taking a touchback or having an opportunity to have a big return. If Chicago had four more seconds left at the end of the half, they’d possibly go out there for a big field goal because they had a big return off of [Chicago Bears WR] Luther Burden. So, the returner position I think has increased value with these new rules in place.

After the game, Head Coach Nick Sirianni definitely praised your units for covering Dallas Cowboys WR KaVontae Turpin and keeping him in check. What was the key to preventing Turpin from breaking one? (Ed Kracz)

Michael Clay: I think a lot of it has to do with the collective coverage of the team. We could come up with the best game plan is all, but I think a lot of the times it comes down to your fundamentals that you work in from OTAs to training camp to the first game. It’s just a lot of lane integrity, knowing where our leverage is and population of the ball, those coverages turn into defense. When you get a lot of population of the ball, it doesn’t give them a lot of leaks for them to get out there, but it has to do with those players going out there. It’s all hands-on deck shoot, you saw [WR] John Metchie out there make a huge tackle against [Dallas Cowboys WR Jalen] Tolbert, so it’s kudos to all these guys — coming in tomorrow for the game plan, believing in it, trusting in it, and just playing fast really.

How do you like the placement of P Braden Mann and K Jake Elliott from the kicking perspective of it? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: I mean those two, they work so hard to perfect their craft on the opposite fields when offense and defense are going and they know the dangers that are presented by all these returners in the NFL, but for them to go out there in those situations is awesome and it brings not only confidence in themselves but confidence in the coverage units that they know this ball’s going over there, we have an opportunity to cut off three quarters of the field and make a big play. And Braden with those two big time punts at the end of the game, pinning them out of bounds and giving our defense a long field is awesome. That’s what we want to do in special teams is just field position for the offense and vice versa for the defense, make sure they have a long field to protect.

On P Braden Mann, we saw him all throughout camp, just crushing the ball. Has he gotten better? Has he gotten his leg gotten stronger? Is there anything he’s better at than last year? (Reuben Frank)

Michael Clay: I think Braden is probably one of the more hardworking guys I’ve ever been around. He’s probably the most perfectionist that I’ve ever been around as well. He’s going out there and if he doesn’t feel right, he will spend another 40 minutes out there with [Special Teams Assistant] Tyler [Brown] working on his craft and just understanding what’s the game plan for us, how is he going to accomplish that and he goes out there and he does a great job for us. I can’t say enough good things about Braden Mann as a player and as person.

Why’d you like WR Jahan Dotson to return punts? (Jeff McLane)

Michael Clay: With Jahan, people forget his Penn State tape. He is calm, cool, collected like you don’t see Jahan have ebbs and flows. He’s a very 75-degree weather guy going out there. He’s calm, makes right decisions, so we’re just going to keep building off that. He didn’t have a lot of opportunities but I think a big thing is in that plus-50 punt he was able to run up. You see a lot of times guys let that ball kind of bounce and you’re at the mercy of the bounce. He threw up the fair catch, knew he had time right there to get that ball up to 13. So he is a heady player as well.

FB Ben VanSumeren goes down on the opening kickoff. How difficult when you have a core guy like that out so early, how difficult is that? (John McMullen)

Michael Clay: You feel for Ben more than anything else? The first play, he worked so hard to come back from a season ending injury last year and he is revved up, he’s ready to go then he goes down. It’s more you feel so bad for the kid, he works so hard. But in that other split second [Assistant Special Teams Coordinator] Joe P [Pannunzio] and [Special Teams Assistant] Tyler [Brown] do a great job of just communicating with me of ‘who are we going to place, who we’re going to put here?’ That’s the beauty of special teams. You go through all the reps with the ones and twos just in case something bad happens. The ability for these guys to come in here and understand that they can be up at any point is great and you don’t really miss a beat, which is outstanding. You saw guys go out there, whether that’s [TE] Grant Calcaterra going out there, [WR] Darius Cooper going out there playing a little punt return. So it’s kudos to these guys always being ready. But you feel so bad for Ben, he is also a heartbeat for our special teams, he brings some athleticism and some physicality. It’s up to us and the rest of the group to bring that same nature

Dallas returned it each time on the kickoffs. Was that intentional and what did you think of the coverage? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Coverage was really good. I think the first one he got out to was the 32-yard line, whether it’s the first one or the third one, but I think Jake did a really good job of making him go back and forth, not have a beat because when you go sideways it gives our coverage unit and a little bit more time to get down there. I thought [OLB] Josh Uche did a really good job on his tackle of being physical and some speed. Then you see [LB] Smael [Mondon], [LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr.] Trot and [S] Sidney [Brown] kind of man the middle right there. I thought the coverage was really good, but again, it takes all 11 of us out there on kickoff coverage to help out. Then you get a couple penalties here and there and now they have to start at the 12-yard line and help out the defense.

What did Head Coach Nick Sirianni’s postgame words about you post-game mean to you? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: I pretty much owe darn near the whole world to Nick, obviously being able to hire me as a first-time coordinator, but he talks about it a lot but you want to coach as hard as you possibly can for guys that trust in you, that believe in you. The words that Nick said, obviously they hold a lot of weight to myself, but for me personally, it’s all the players out there. They’re the ones playing for 60 minutes in between the lines. I’m just trying to help them out as much as I possibly can throughout the week. The players being out there to buy into the game plan and execute the game plan, it’s more kudos to all those guys than anything else.

The league wide results with kickoffs in week one. Was it what you expected or any different? (Dave Zangaro)

Michael Clay: No, it’s kind of what I expected a little bit. I’m sure there was a little bit more touchbacks than people probably thought, but I don’t think that was by the nature of people trying to hit touch backs. I think it’s just some kickers have extra juice and the ball takes off and some smart return play, but that’s what I expected throughout the league is a lot more returns. A couple broke out, some big returns. I know there was a 71-yard return in the Tennessee-Denver game. Then there was some good coverages with some added penalties that made some guys back up. I think that’s just going to be how it’s going throughout the entirety of the year, is a field position battle in that kickoff-kickoff return.

If I could follow up on RB Tank Bigsby, he only had six returns last year. It wasn’t a big part of what he did in college either. Why hasn’t he been featured in this role in the past? (Zach Berman)

Michael Clay: Yeah, I don’t know what happens in the other buildings, whether that be at Auburn or Jacksonville, but he shows the ability to do it. Hard-nosed runner obviously. I think he had what, 800-plus yards as a running back. It’s just one of those things where you have a guy that’s talented and you put the ball in his hands and now you give him a little bit more space to see some vision. You’re ready to see him go, kind of very similar to [RB] Will Shipley last year, only a couple of opportunities, but he had a good high average in the return game.

On the league-wide kickoff last night, two minutes to go, the Vikings returned the ball. It was seven or eight yards deep in the end zone to make sure the Bears couldn’t use their two-minute warning advantageously. Does that the new rules kind of add some strategy to end the game and returning kicks that otherwise obviously you wouldn’t? (Martin Frank)

Michael Clay: A lot of it comes down to situation stuff and [Head Coach] Nick [Sirianni] has done a heck of a job being situational aware. [Assistant General Manager] John Ferrari does a great job in terms of us communicating all that, but it goes back into the communication from up top, everyone being on the same page of obviously it dictates on who’s your kicker, what’s the weather like, how’s your defense playing? There’s a whole thing situationally that you could go on and on about. But again, for what Chicago and Minnesota did, I’m not in those buildings, I can’t speak on it. But for us, we would have a game plan going into what we wanted to do in that situation.

When you face a team as much as you have the Chiefs, as much as you guys have over the last several years and you face one of the better special teams guys, how do you approach that heading into this week? (Jeff McLane)

Michael Clay: I approach it like every other week. You go into it respecting everybody, you respect all the players out there and [Kansas City Chiefs Special Teams Coordinator Dave] Toub has been in the league for so long and has been really good for so long. You respect everyone, but we’re going out there to put our team in the best position possible from a special teams standpoint. It starts with the game plan between myself, Tyler Brown and Joe Pannunzio today, then implementing it tomorrow, Thursday and Friday to the players and having the confidence that we’re all on the same page and you always want to put the best product out there. I’m not worried about our guys doing that because they have a lot of pride in helping this team special teams wise.

The Chiefs are going to be coming out with a certain kind of energy given the last time that you played them, how do you get your guys to match that? (Tim McManus)

Michael Clay: If you can’t have energy playing in the NFL, you’re not going to be very successful. I’m not worried about the energy from the guys in here. They’re all grown men, they’re all adults in terms of that. It’s more of just being able to breathe out there and not get overly hyped and get out of your own body. It’s more just sinking to your level of fundamentals and going out there and executing.

You mentioned RB Tank Bigsby has been on your radar for a while. At what point between your conversations with you and Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman, did you realize he might be a possibility here? (Brooks Kubena)

Michael Clay: Just in terms of all that, Howie does a great job, obviously he’s done a great job for a long time here. When he is able to pop by and say things of that nature, whether it be Bigsby or other players in that nature, you just try to put them in their best possible positions that you see them to take sell in. That’s my job as a coach. When he does say that, it’s now my job to put him in an advantageous situation as a returner.