Rams, Chargers Play Second Exhibition Game : Once Again, Everett Will Face the Team That Used to Run His Current Offense
The Rams and the San Diego Chargers are playing each other so many times this season that their schedules look like something from Arena Football.
Are there any other teams out there?
So far this year, the Rams have scrimmaged the Chargers--twice in one day during a recent training camp visit--and the Rams’ only victory of the exhibition season was at the expense of the Chargers, 27-6, at Anaheim Stadium on Aug. 13.
Tonight, at Jack Murphy Stadium, the Rams and Chargers will play again in their exhibition finale.
And just in case they start missing one another, the league has scheduled a regular-season meeting for them Nov. 20 at Anaheim Stadium.
But by then, San Diego Coach Al Saunders promises, the teams won’t recognize each other.
“By the time we play them, what we will have done offensively and defensively will be totally different than where we are now,” he said.
Actually, it’s only fitting that Ram quarterback Jim Everett spent his summer brushing up his skills against the Chargers, the team that used to run the Rams’ offense.
The experience has given Everett a chance to get acquainted with Dan Fouts, the retired Charger quarterback Everett is trying to emulate in offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese’s scheme.
“I have talked to him and we talk about my progress,” Everett said of Fouts. “Some things he’s seen have been good and there are other things I need to improve on to be a better quarterback in the system.”
Everett said that comparisons to Fouts are to be expected, especially since the offenses under both quarterbacks were coordinated by Zampese, who came to the Rams from San Diego in 1986.
“I hope my back-pedal isn’t as ugly as his,” Everett jokingly said of Fouts. “But it’s the same system. If people want to compare me to Fouts, all the better. That man’s going to be in Hall of Fame. He did a lot of things right. I know they didn’t win any world championships, but they didn’t have the world-class defense we have here.”
Everett will go into tonight’s game having completed 44 of 70 passes--that’s 63%--for 523 yards and 4 touchdowns. He looks back on where he was at this time last year and says he can’t believe the difference.
“I have a tough time going back and watching films of last year,” he said. “It seems like such a negative thing, when you go back and see all the mistakes you made.”
The making of Jim Everett hasn’t been easy, though. Zampese, strength trainer Garrett Giemont, and Everett spent long hours in the off-season working on the little things that made Fouts so effective.
“The strides we’re making are tremendous,” Everett said. “Ernie had time to see things I can do. I worked with Gie on my foot speed, so I could do some of the things Dan Fouts could do, things I couldn’t do before because I didn’t have the training.”
Ram Notes
To make room for guard Tom Newberry on the roster, the Rams put first-year wide receiver Thomas Henley on injured reserve with a knee problem. The move also seemingly assures Michael Young’s spot as fourth wide receiver. Newberry said Friday he expects the details of his contract to be worked out shortly. Besides base salaries of $150,000 this year and $200,000 next season, he will reportedly get a $200,000 signing bonus and yearly incentives of $100,000 for making the Pro Bowl, plus a one-year extension at $400,000 in 1990. Newberry, who checked into camp at 288 pounds, will play about a quarter tonight against the Chargers. It could be a long night for him. “He was breathing so hard I think he could barely hear me call the plays,” quarterback Jim Everett said after Newberry’s first practice.
A tender ankle will probably keep receiver Henry Ellard out of tonight’s game. . . . Former Ram Jack Youngblood’s mother, Kathleen, who suffered a heart attack July 30, died Wednesday in Montgomery, Ala. She was 65. Youngblood, a radio commentator for Ram games, will miss tonight’s game to attend the funeral, scheduled Saturday in Monticello, Fla.
The Chargers will be without tight end Kellen Winslow, who is suffering from a sore knee, and linebacker Billy Ray Smith, who has a pulled calf muscle. . . . For the moment, Babe Laufenberg has beaten out Mark Malone for the starting quarterback spot.
