Q. Now that you've seen Braden Mann a little bit, how has he done? And do you think he's the punter moving forward?
COACH CLAY: I think Braden has done a good job being put in there. Obviously it's good when the offense is moving the ball and he rarely has any opportunities in there.
He had that one punt, pinned them inside the 10, allowed our defense to play a long field. So Braden has done a really good job. And as a holder he's done an outstanding job. Some people may not notice, the second hole he did a really good job picking it up and putting down on a lower snap. But outside of that I think he's been doing a pretty good job for us.
Q. What areas has Britain Covey improved as far as with the ball in his hands?
COACH CLAY: It always goes back to understanding what that team's doing. A lot of the times early on in the season you see a lot more punts are a little bit further down the field, whether it's just warm weather, in a dome. He almost outkicks the coverage. But it allows Britain to get into his mindset of I'll puncture then get outside.
He's done a really good job understanding what the punter is trying to do, what the coverage is trying to do. Are they more of a spread it out field side, or are they all pretty much converging.
A lot of times it has to do with what the guys up front are doing, on the outside with Jobe and Kelee, they did a really good job neutralizing some gunners to give him an opportunity.
You see Eli Ricks in there kind of taking almost a fullback approach picking up any trash right there. A lot of times it's predicated on what the other 10 guys are doing. And they've done a pretty good job the first five weeks allowing Britain the opportunities to get some yardage for us.
Q. (Indiscernible) the speed of the NFL game. He was amazing in Utah, but there's a big difference in levels?
COACH CLAY: Yeah, I think that goes for anybody coming from college to the NFL. It's amped up a little bit more. You have guys that run 4.3 on the outside and they're 6-foot, 200 pounds. Just getting used to the speed of the NFL, but I think Britain has done a really good job of getting better as a returner. The more opportunities you get the better you'll get, just like anything else in life.
Q. You mentioned Braden's experience at MetLife as a bonus when you brought him in. What is it about that stadium that makes punting in there unique?
COACH CLAY: Just like the other stadiums in the northeast, you get some winds and some bad weather. It swirls a little bit in there. Fortunate enough we do play the Giants in there. So we've been there a couple times.
It's just a very unique stadium that gives everybody issues, regardless of who is in there. Obviously the other team has to kick off. Braden being in there, he may have other tidbits if anybody asks Covey -- Jake, Jake's been in there many a times -- on how the weather affects the ball flight and everything.
But for the most part these guys will be prepared going in there, going against a really good special teams unit in the New York Jets. Obviously you see they've got their returner, Xavier Gipson, some specialists out there, Justin Hardee. Zuerlein has been kicking a long time in this league. Brant does a great job with his units. Doing it for a long time. We have our work cut out.
Q. When you look at Gipson, what challenges does he present to the coverage team. (Indiscernible) he had a touchdown earlier?
COACH CLAY: He's no one-trick pony. He can puncture it going north and south. He can get the edge as a returner, dual-threat returner. He doesn't have any fear, which helps out a lot. He's not going to be fearful trying to make a big play.
It's really going to be a full team effort in our coverage phases to get him, to corral him and get him down in punt and kickoff coverage.
Q. I don't think you guys had to cover a kick in Los Angeles because you had the man, punts and then Jake had all touchbacks. As a coordinator, how do you look at a game like that? Is that a positive -- because you need your guys to be honed in on coverage? How do you kind of look at that when you get a clean game, I guess, from a kicking standpoint, no returns?
COACH CLAY: Honestly, you can only control what you can control. That goes back to our practice. We rep our kickoff coverage and our punt coverage a lot, just to get ourselves ready for those opportunities.
You never know what they can do. It could be line the guy up nine deep and he wants to bring it out nine deep. We always have to be ready regardless of the situation -- in a dome, good weather, no wind.
But it always goes down back to what we do Wednesday and Thursday and Friday to get us ready to go out and cover because obviously you guys know here in the northeast the weather changes. Even it's starting to feel nice and cool and crisp in the morning nowadays.
So now that ball may not travel as far as it did the first month of the season. So we always have got to be ready for anything -- return, to make sure our coverage responsibilities are honed in and especially going against a returner like Xavier Gipson, whoever it may be.
You're an NFL returner; you've got some juice to you. We've got to be ready to accept that challenge and help our defense with a long field.
Q. He spent four years with Saleh what's your background, your relationship with him?
COACH CLAY: Saleh, outstanding human being. Being around him in San Francisco, getting to know him, his family, his upbringing out of Dearborn and everything. All the passion and the details he has for football.
But he's a great, wonderful human being. And I wish nothing but the best for him, but he's been doing a great job up there in New York with all the circumstances that may present themselves. But Saleh is always is ready for anything. So it's always nice to see those guys you've worked with in the past to exchange pleasantries right before the game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports