Mays needs rest, but is that the whole story?

The company line is that Reggie Smith will start sharing
time with rookie Taylor Mays at strong safety to give Mays, who plays on every
special-teams unit, a breather during games.

Perhaps that assertion is entirely accurate — defensive coordinator
Greg Manusky has mentioned Mays’ heavy workload prior to this week. But does
the move have anything to do with Mays’ performance? When Mike Singletary
revealed on Wednesday that Smith would play more, he was responding to a
question about how the Niners could improve a pass defense that ranks 20th in
the NFL.

“I just think we have to do a better job. I think Reggie
Smith may get a few more reps,” Singletary said. “We’ll see how it goes, but
obviously we have to do a better job and we’re all aware of that. It will be
addressed going forward.”

Funny, nothing there about Taylor Mays being winded.

After his 11-tackle performance in his first start
against Atlanta, the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Mays has averaged 3.7 tackles in his past
four games. He doesn’t have an interception, has two defended two passes and
has a forced fumble. A criticism of him as a draft prospect out of USC, where
he was a three-time, first-team All-American, was that he lacked ball skills —
that is, he didn’t adjust well when the ball was in the air. In 50 starts at
USC, he had five interceptions, just two in his final three seasons.

Manusky didn’t dispute the suggestion today that Mays
needs to improve in that area.

“Got to make plays on the ball. I don’t care what
position you’re at,” he said. “… For him, there’s times he’s going to go
through some growing pains, of course, (like) most rookies in the National
Football League. The more and more that the kid sees it, the more and more that
he plays, the better off he’s going to be.”

Linebacker Takeo Spikes, speaking in general about the
secondary and linebackers this week, said the Niners’ back end isn’t getting
fooled. But it also isn’t making plays. The 49ers have allowed 677 passing
yards in their past two games, the most they’ve allowed in back-to-back
contests since 2005. They have eight interceptions this season, none by Mays or free safety Dashon Goldson.

“It’s not like we get beat schematically and guys are
running wide open,” Spikes said. “We’re not making the plays when the opportunity
is there … More focus and more attention will be put on making plays when the
ball is in the air at practice. Just doing the little things, that’s the only
thing you can do because we’re never really beat at our position …. Let’s make
the plays when the ball is in the air.”

For his part, Mays downplayed his altered role after he
saw the vast majority of the defensive snaps the past five games. In doing so, though, he did make it sound as if there was something more to the story.

“It’s just kind of hard to run down the field sometimes and
then go on defense,” Mays said. “It’s just been hard for me to be out there, especially
late in the game. But it’s not really a big deal. I know what it is. Coaches know
what it is. There’s a circle of us, me and coach Sing and we know what it is. So
it really isn’t anything I’m really worried about. I know what it is. It’s just
something that if I’m tired, that’s just how it is. I’m not worried about it. It’s
not really like a change in my game or change in our game plan or anything like
that.”

After four preseason games and eight regular-season
games, Mays conceded he’s feeling a little bit of the rookie wall. But he didn’t quite
go along with the suggestion that a few more breaks on Sundays would help him, “I
don’t know,” he said. “Whatever happens, it will help the team and it will help
us win. So we’ll be good.”

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