The Eagles were back in the building on Tuesday and special teams coordinator Michael Clay spoke to reporters and ended up fielding several questions about how longer field goals are affecting the league and why.
This line of questioning was sparked just minutes prior to Clay taking the stage, with DC Vic Fangio, unprompted, noting how impactful the league’s new rules for kicking balls has been. Fangio cited the 65-yard field goal by the Bucs in Week 4 as an example of how the balls are traveling further than ever before.
Clay explained that it’s still warm out, noting it felt like 102 degrees in Tampa, and that’s just the way things are trending so far this season. He then elaborated a bit on what specifically is different about the kicking balls this year.
“We just get to work on it a little bit longer than we used to. We used to only have an hour, now we get the whole week to fill it in, the kickers get to pick what ball they feel pretty good about. You only get six balls — if you lose one of them, or it gets scuffed up and the NFL deems it not playable, then it’s out. You just gotta make sure those balls are primed and ready to go come Sunday.”
When asked if the impact of the new rules were good for the game, Clay succinctly responded, “Didn’t the NFL want more points? There it is.”
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