‘Catastrophic plays’ haunt the Eagles’ special teams. Coordinator Michael Clay aims to get rid of them.

In recent weeks, the Eagles’ special teams have made a trio of not-so-special plays. Michael Clay, the fourth-year special-teams coordinator, called them “catastrophic” on Tuesday.

The latest incident occurred Sunday in the Eagles’ victory over the Cleveland Browns. Myles Garrett, the 2023 defensive player of the year, hurdled the line and blocked the Eagles’ 57-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the first half. Rodney McLeod, the former Eagles safety, scooped up the loose ball and returned it for a touchdown, tying the score, 10-10, with the Browns set to receive to start the second half.

Two days after the game, Clay detailed the coaching points that needed to be emphasized and heeded to prevent such a play from happening. First, it was imperative for the members of the unit to know where a player like the 6-foot-4, 272-pound Garrett was rushing. In this case, Garrett jumped the A gap between long snapper Rick Lovato and guard Tyler Steen, clearing the offensive linemen on his way to deflect the attempt.

Garrett pulled off an identical play last season against the Indianapolis Colts while rushing the same gap. The New York Giants ran the same play in their defeat of the Seattle Seahawks last week. Clay stressed the importance of his players in the field-goal protection unit to be able to “rise with power” to minimize penetration from the opposing team in its attempt to block the kick.

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“After you get that first bump, you want to rise, maybe you can clip a leg of his and he falls down or he comes unbalanced and he can’t get there,” Clay said.

He also said knowing the game situation is critical to anticipating whether Garrett might take a risk to try to jump that gap and block the field goal. The NFL rulebook states that unnecessary contact with a defenseless player such as the long snapper on any scrimmage kick results in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down.

“Is it going to happen with 14 minutes left in the second quarter?” Clay asked hypothetically. “Probably not. You’re not going to risk the 15. But a 57-yarder at the half? Higher possibility of him doing that to salvage a play going into the half.”

Clay said it falls on him to “get rid” of the catastrophic plays that have characterized the Eagles’ special-teams units over the last few weeks. Their blunders began in Week 3 when New Orleans’ core special-teams player J.T. Gray blocked a punt, which Saints defensive back Jordan Howden recovered at the Eagles’ 27-yard line.

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The following week, Isaiah Rodgers blocked a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defender into Cooper DeJean, the punt returner. DeJean muffed the punt, and the Bucs recovered the ball at the Eagles’ 22.

“When you have three catastrophic plays, those are things that do kill a season, kill a team right there,” Clay said.

According to Clay, until the Eagles can prove that they’ve fixed their issues, opponents are going to present them with looks that they’ve erred on in the past. Now, it’s on Clay to ensure that his group is prepared and disciplined enough to handle those situations the next time around.

“It’s five weeks in,” Clay said. “Do we want those three? Absolutely not. That falls on me. But we have 12 more opportunities to put all those aside, and by the end of it, we should be happy with what we want to put out there.”