But sometimes longshots come in. Even though he says he will be holding his breath today when the Eagles announce their final cuts, Mays is in no danger of getting a pink slip. He has the team made.

The rookie capped off an impressive training camp and preseason Thursday night with a 12-tackle performance in the Eagles' 27-20 loss to the New York Jets.

"I've done what I can," he said. "I think I went out and did what they wanted me to do. Showed them I can play football and make plays. I'm just waiting to see if I make the team or not."

Mays is a big hitter who has a knack for always being around the ball. Had a team-high eight tackles last week in the team's 27-17 preseason win over the New England Patriots.

Thursday night, his biggest tackle wasn't any of the 12 he made against the Jets' offense but the one he made early in the third quarter on special teams when he held punt returner Jesse Chatman to a 1-yard gain.

Mays, who will back up starting middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, will mainly earn his keep this season playing special teams, although he also may see action in short-yardage and goal-line situations.

"I think that was the most important tackle I had all night," Mays said. "They know what I can do on defense. But I wanted to come out and show them what I can do on special teams by going out and making tackles.

"I knew [special teams] were going to be very important [for me]. That's what makes and breaks players. If you can play special teams or not. More than anything, I was trying to put more of an emphasis on special teams than defense. But as it turned out, it seemed like I put more emphasis on defense."

NFL player personnel people spend the summer bouncing from preseason game to preseason game, evaluating players who might become available when teams reduce their rosters. No Eagles player intrigued them more than Mays.

"Is there any chance he slips through the cracks?" one asked before the Patriots game.

By the time the game was over he knew the answer. Unless the Eagles were complete idiots, Mays wouldn't be slipping through the cracks.

"I thought he did some good things," Eagles coach Andy Reid said after the Jets game. "He's taken what he did in college and transformed it to this camp.

"The area where he needs to improve is in the passing game. He's been working very hard at that. We knew that would be a challenge for him. But he's getting better at it. It would've been nice to see him tip that ball down in the end zone [a 6-yard touchdown pass from Erik Ainge to David Ball that went over Mays' head]. He'll learn from that. The next time, he'll be a foot deeper and jump an inch higher and be in the right position to make that play."

"The next time" . . .

And there will be a next time for the rookie.

"[Pass coverage] was something I needed to work on in college," Mays said. "Once I got here, they put a big emphasis on it. I just worked my butt off week and week out and am starting to get better at it."

Reid and defensive coordinator Jim Johnson have been impressed with how quickly Mays has gotten his arms around Johnson's complex defense. Another rookie, wide receiver DeSean Jackson, has done the same with Reid's offense. But Jackson had the advantage of playing in a pro-style offense at a BCS conference school [California]. The learning curve is slightly higher when you're arriving from a I-AA school. Or at least it's supposed to be.

"We played a Tampa-2 [scheme] in college, which is a little similar to what Jim Johnson has here," Mays said. "I just carried over some of the verbiage that we used and just try to connect it with some of the things Jim Johnson does here. It worked out for me a little bit. I'm just glad I was able to learn that kind of stuff in college. It's helped me out here.

"After the second preseason game [against Carolina], everything started to click. I started to feel more comfortable out there. I was thinking less and just trying to make plays."

After Thursday's game, Mays was asked what the next 2 days were going to be like for him as he waited for the Eagles to make their cuts.

"Stressful," he said. "I'm used to moving around. Being at practice or playing the game. Now, I've got to just sit around and wait and see if I made the team or not."

He will. But even if he doesn't, Mays said he wouldn't be disappointed because he knows he gave it his best shot.

"I know I came out and put all my heart into it," he said. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'm upbeat about things and waiting for the next chapter in my life.

"I think I have [proven he can play at this level]. No matter what kind of scheme they throw at you, if you can play ball, you can play ball. That's all I was trying to show. Even if I messed up, I wanted to mess up [going] 100 percent." *