COMMENTARY : Everett Has Little Choice but to Be Optimistic

The sightings, no doubt, will become stranger, but on the first day of Ram two-a-day drills, 1991, this one was weird enough: Kevin Magee, the man who made UC Irvine famous, holding out a football for Jim Everett to autograph.

Shouldn’t it have been the other way around?

Who here went 5-11 last year--and who made a small mint dunking basketballs in Spain?

You have to be a football hero, even a recently devalued one. Up the escalator or down--and now he has both routes memorized--Everett remains top magnet among Rams. This can be good when you are 11-5 and everybody is calling you the next Montana. But go 5-11, throw 17 interceptions and the syntax changes for the worst.

Montana? Yeah, that’d be a good place for you.

As usual, Everett was hounded during the past off-season, only the bark had more of a bite.

“It was definitely tough,” he says. “People want explanations. The fans these days are more knowledgeable about the game and they understand that we didn’t perform to the level we were supposed to. Of course, that goes along with losing. The public abuse, that goes with it. The public perception of a loser is not very high.

“I’ve never perceived myself as a person who would be considered a loser. I’m sure my teammates feel the same way. I was definitely placed into circumstances I didn’t want to be in.”

Among them: Interviews about what backfired in 1990, such as the one that was grating on Everett this week. Just mention the numbers, 5 and 11 , back to back. Everett starts the meter running.

“I’ll spend five minutes talking about 5-11--and I see we’ve done four minutes already,” he says. “It was terrible. It was humiliating. It’s something I never, ever want to do again, to have happen again.

“From that point on, I want to learn from it. I want to use it as motivation for what we have in the future.”

And what do the Rams have at the moment? Their defense, an autumn-long sham, could have added Ronnie Lott, but the Rams decided to save their nickels and add Todd Lyght, who is presently unsigned. They also added a few Plan B types. On offense, the temporary losses include linemen Tom Newberry and Irv Pankey (both holdouts), and the one permanent defection is substantial--the ever-resourceful, ever-useful tight end, Pete Holohan.

As always, Everett chooses his words carefully when discussing these pluses and minuses. His passes should be so close to the vest. “Normally, I don’t believe in using the media as a way of negotiating a problem,” he says. “Never have, and hopefully, I never will.”

So, with Everett, you toss up a question and scrutinize the response, squinting hard for the meaning between the lines.

Was the Rams’ off-season salvage operation extensive enough?

“It’s tough (to) judge,” Everett says. “Public opinion is one thing and football opinion is another. If you look at it, with the Ronnie Lotts and the Roger Craigs that were out there, in the public opinion, no. But once you give the Plan B guys (that) we have a chance, maybe (management) did all right. . . .

“I mean, I’m just like any other fan. I haven’t done the research on it the Rams did, but I’ve played against Ronnie Lott, and he’s been tough. I’m sure he has a couple of more years of continuing to be tough for the Raiders. He’s a player you have a lot of respect for. But for whatever reason, we went in another direction.

“And to be totally honest, we have a guy named Pat Terrell, whom I think you’ll be hearing a lot about. You would have been taking playing time away from him (by signing Lott). Pat’s at a good age to play free safety and start making his name in this league.”

Wasn’t Holohan a major loss?

“He’ll be a lifelong favorite of mine,” Everett says. “He’s just a heck of a guy. I love Pete and I love his attitude toward the game. Things do happen. I would imagine teams differed when they evaluated him from a monetary standpoint.

“Kansas City evaluated him to be worth X number of dollars, and we were in a position where we have some fine young talent that was going to push Pete. Financially, it was a great decision for Pete, and for the Los Angeles Rams, it means we’re gambling on guys like Pat Carter, Damone Johnson and Jim Price.

“I’m a big fan of Pete Holohan. But I’m sure our young receivers will be just fine.”

And what about those eight Rams who remain unsigned? Wasn’t this where we started last season?

“So far, management’s trying to get things done. They seem to have the door open, as much as I know. I’m sure they’re being competitive with the market.

“You always anticipate the No. 1 draft pick holding out, and a couple of vets. That’s part of the game. It’s a business decision for the other guys, and hopefully, they can get it done as soon as possible and have some fun with the rest of us.”

Fun? With the Rams? There’s a news flash.

Everett points to defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher’s aggressive new thrust on defense and says: “Practices are the most intense I’ve seen here.” He points to the new tailback tag team of Cleveland Gary and Marcus Dupree. “Last year, our running game was always confused,” he says. “I want a successful running game and right now, we have the people to produce it.”

Points taken, he sees enough light at least to approach the tunnel with confidence. If the rest of the league lumps the Rams in the same menagerie as the Cardinals and the Falcons, Everett says, “Bring ‘em on, bring ‘em on. They can have that attitude. That’s fine. Come to our stadium. Play the Los Angeles Rams. We’ll show them what the game’s about.

“You’ve got to live with being 5-11, but I don’t anticipate teams feeling like we’re a steppingstone. If they do, they’ll have something else coming.”

Getting those holdouts into camp would be a start. How about signing them the way the rest of the team practices? Two a day.