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All three anxiously await today's 6 p.m. final cut, which will reduce the Eagles' roster to 53 players. Coach Andy Reid lauded the trio as having played well in Thursday's final preseason game, a 27-20 loss to the New York Jets.
"We'll see how it goes here," Reid said when asked about the defense. "There are a couple of other decisions that won't be easy, but that's a good thing."
"I told the guys the first day of camp that they need to make it as hard on Tom and I as they possibly can," he said, referring to general manager Tom Heckert. "There are some spots here that are tough calls, but we'll make the right ones."
Smith and Mays had dueling efforts against the Jets. Smith had 11 tackles, 10 of them unassisted, and 1.5 sacks. Mays had 12 tackles, nine of them unassisted.
The hard-luck, injury-plagued McDougle, who has had a good training camp, had three tackles, two of them unassisted, and a half-sack, but provided constant pressure on Jets quarterbacks the entire game.
Smith, 24, was a dominant pass rusher at McNeese State, yet Reid said he showed good skills against a running game.
"I feel my transition from pass-rushing in college to the NFL has to get better," Smith said. "The tackles are a lot better than what I was used to in college. I need to progress on getting better there.
"I've tried to work on the transition to the run, but I've got to continue to get better playing this defense because the pass rush is a big part of this defense."
His performance against the Jets - the Eagles' reserves played the entire game - might have clinched him a roster spot, despite a nagging hamstring pull.
"No telling what happens," Smith said. "I just went out there and played. Now it plays out with the coaches. It was nice to go out and finish and play hard through a whole game the way I wanted to go.
"Coming off the injury, I think I did pretty good. This game gave me confidence that I can stop the run. There are still things I can do better. . . . It gave some confidence that I can play in the NFL."
McDougle, 29, has benefited from Chris Clemons' missing so much time with a calf injury. If the Birds cut Clemons, however, there would be $4 million in wasted cap space, which works against McDougle.
"I'm not really worried about what goes on," McDougle said. "The coaches have decisions to make all around the board, not just me.
"I put it in God's hands. I played hard and let it all out on the field. That has been my whole attitude throughout training camp: Leave it on the field; continue to strive to get better."
Coaches said repeatedly that McDougle seemed determined to put his troubled past, which included being shot in a 2005 robbery, behind him.
"Through my relationship with Jesus Christ, I just stopped worrying about a lot of things," McDougle said. "A lot of times, young guys come into the league and are real tentative, worrying about messing up. They put a lot of things on their shoulders.
"It's hard for them not to do that. People expect so much out of you. It's good when you can turn it over to God and go out and play," and "take everything else out of it."
Mays, 23, an all-American at North Dakota State, has drawn weekly praise. He seems to have adjusted to his role on calling signals on the field.
"The area that needs to improve is in the pass game, and he's been working very hard on that," Reid said. "We knew that would be a challenge for him, but he's getting better."
Mays said he tried to position himself better in the exhibitions.
"If I'm making the plays I am supposed to, I would be in the right spot," he said. "I think I could have done more, could have done better. Overall, I came out and made a couple of tackles and made a couple of plays. I'm hoping that overrides everything else.
"If you don't know what you are doing on defense, you got to make plays. Not that I didn't know what I was doing, but there were times when I was in the wrong spot, but I was still trying to make plays any way I could. That shows up on film."
What's on the film could make or break these players.
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