Winning Is Ample Motivation for Everett

If the Denver Broncos thought one afternoon was bad, think about what Jim Everett has to deal with.

The better he gets, the tougher his job gets.

Everett broke into the elite of NFL quarterbacks last season, leading the league with 29 touchdown passes and becoming one of only 10 quarterbacks in history to throw for more than 4,000 yards.

But the number that mattered most for Everett and the Rams was 30-3, the score by which they lost the NFC Championship game to their Western Division rivals in San Francisco. The Rams have been been second-best to the 49ers since 1985, the last time they won the NFC West.

“It’s such a letdown, such an emotional low, to have to end your season on such a low point, but I hope it’s something that we can turn around,” he said. “We’re talking about dominating the games earlier so maybe we can have the home-field advantage so they have to go and do what we had to try and do.”

Entering his fifth NFL season at 27, Everett offers the Rams stability at a position that had seemed like a revolving door for Bert Jones, Pat Haden, Vince Ferragamo, Dieter Brock, Steve Bartkowski, Jeff Kemp ... even an aging Joe Namath.

“That’s all the difference in the world, to have one young guy to work things around,” wide receiver Henry Ellard said. “I had a about five different quarterbacks in five years, and I wasn’t able to grow.

“When things are not going right, he gets people motivated. He’ll do what needs to be done.”

Everett, meanwhile, is more concerned about motivating the Rams than he is playing in the shadow of Joe Montana.

“The first thing we have to do is believe in ourselves,” he said. “What I’m talking about is getting better, believing that we are the best, acting like and doing the types of things a championship team would do. I’m just saying, ‘Be what you are.’ I think the success around here is breeding more success.”

Theoretically, to improve, the Rams would need to at least get to the Super Bowl.

“We know what second-best has been like, and that really doesn’t sit so well,” Everett said. “I think it’s a common goal for our squad, and that’s what has to happen for us to be right.”

The Rams have reached the playoffs six of the last seven years, but only once as division champion, and only twice with a home-field advantage.

Last year, the Rams split the regular-season series with San Francisco, but then came a four-game losing streak and they finished 11-5. As a wild-card team, they had to travel to the East Coast twice, and then to San Francisco.

Everett led the Rams to come-from-behind road victories against San Francisco, New Orleans, Dallas, New England and against the New York Giants in the divisional playoffs.

“Last year, my knock was we couldn’t win the big game and we couldn’t come back from behind,” he said. “There were a lot of big games that we won and there’s a lot of games we came back from behind. So I think I solved that knock.

“The knock this year, is, of course, to finish the year with a win. That’s what we’re going for. We’ll be able to come from behind. I’d like to see us dominate more.”

Last season, Everett completed 304 of 518 passes for a club-record 4,310 yards (Don Majkowski of Green Bay threw for 4,318). Everett was second to Montana on the NFC passing efficiency list.

There’s also another side of Everett that’s developing.

“He’s a fun guy,” Ellard said. “He likes to play practical jokes on people. Sometimes a team needs that.

“He’s always trying to look for a way to get better.”

Everett, who grew up in Albuquerque, N.M., and went to Purdue, has settled into Southern California.

“I moved down to Newport Beach my first two years here,” he said. “It was a great place and all that, but I moved back up to Orange. It’s a lot slower pace, a little bit more open, a little bit more secluded, and a lot more style.”

Everett has a six-year contract reportedly worth $15 million. He runs a charity foundation and wants to start a business.

Rams coach John Robinson said he’s impressed that Everett has been able to remain focused on football.

“I think last year was a big year for him,” he said. “He went from pretty good to real good and he became a celebrity last year and a millionaire, a couple times over each year.

“I think sometimes maybe things change. A player’s ability to focus on what they do becomes clouded. My impression of him is that that’s not true.

“He loves to play. I believe most of the great players are gym rats. They’d just as soon play basketball or ping pong or Nintendo or anything. Like Magic Johnson or Larry Bird.

“Jim Everett is that kind of guy, who gets genuine enjoyment out of games and competing. It isn’t a means to an end, playing isn’t a means to achieve fame or fortune, it’s an end in itself.”

Everett laughed when told of Robinson’s remarks.

“If you ask me to take on Michael Jordan in golf, I’d do it,” Everett said. “If you asked me to do something with Larry Bird, I’d do it.

“It’s just that the only thing I’m really good at probably, is throwing the ball, but I’m pretty good at a lot of different other things. I like to think that I’m better than I am, and do it.

“I play on a basketball team and they let me play guard. I’m probably not the best guard, but I like doing it. I just love sports and the team aspect. I don’t love all the rest of them like I do football, but I love playing them.

“I probably couldn’t exist with out the competitiveness.”