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Michael Clay explains an unusual look from special teams in Week 2
- Story by
- Michael Clay explains an unusual look from special teams in Week 2
Michael Clay explains an unusual look from special teams in Week 2 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles have a highly sophisticated and proprietary method of scouring every special teams play from around the NFL each week to find things that might work for them.
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What is it?
"These two eyeballs you're looking at right now," special teams coordinator Michael Clay said this week. "I watch every (special teams) snap of the NFL on Mondays."
Each Monday after a Sunday game, Clay shows up to the Eagles training complex to do his debrief on the previous Eagles game and have his post-game meeting. But then at around 9 a.m. he begins to dive into the rest of the NFL.
It takes him around 3-3 1/2 hours to watch every special teams play from Sunday's slate. He watches through lunch.
"I'm watching all around the league just to see the flavor of the week, what's going on around the league, things like maybe implementing the game plan for our next opponent," Clay said. "I think it's probably about 3, 3 1/2 hours, but you're watching football. I could be doing way worse things in my life than that."
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And sometimes he finds a gem.
Like after Week 1, when he sat down and saw something unique from the Atlanta Falcons in their opener. When the Falcons kicked off in that game, they had punter Jake Bailey holding the ball for kicker Nick Folk and it had nothing to do with the wind.
The Falcons used a holder to change the angle of the ball on kickoffs. So in Week 2, when the Eagles played the Titans in Tennessee , punter Braden Mann was on the field for kickoffs doing the same thing for Jake Elliott .
"It just gave us a different opportunity, a different launch angle and they executed pretty well in terms of Jake and Braden Mann holding on that," Clay said. "We're always looking for ways to help the team in any way we possibly can. It's a different technique, and we'll see if we keep using that as the year goes on."
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After Clay noticed the Falcons using that technique on film, he called Elliott and Mann into his office and asked them if they wanted to try it. Clay said his guys were "pretty juiced up about it" so they tried it throughout the week. Eventually, they felt good enough with it to use it in Week 2 in Tennessee.
And it worked.
While the Titans put three of their four kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, including one that set up the Eagles-game winning drive, the Eagles had just one touchback by design at the end of the game. The Titans also had a penalty on a kickoff to give the Eagles the ball on the 40-yard line.
This was a close game and every yard mattered. So it's important to note that the Eagles' average starting position after kickoffs on Sunday was at the 36.3-yard line, the Titans' average starting position after kickoffs was at the 31.2.
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That was a win for Clay on Sunday. And on Monday, he was right back in his office watching more film from around the league.
"It's just something that you keep an eye on," Clay said, "and it keeps you refreshed and what other teams are doing when you do have to play them down the road. It's one of the perks of this job."
