He’s Waited a Long Time to Get Started : Rams: Chuck Long, battling to become the backup quarterback, will call the signals from the outset Saturday against the Atlanta Falcons.

Chuck Long, for reasons he can’t explain, vanished from sight a few seasons ago.

He last started an NFL game in 1988, which is time enough for him to start wondering if he would ever start again.

He didn’t start a regular-season game. He didn’t start a playoff game. He didn’t even start an exhibition game. Chuck Long just started to disappear.

“I haven’t had a starting assignment in, I can’t even think about it, two, 2 1/2 years,” Long said Tuesday between practices at the Rams’ training camp at UC Irvine. “Hopefully, I haven’t forgotten how to do it.”

Long will get his next start on Saturday, and will play the first three quarters of the Rams’ exhibition opener against the Atlanta Falcons in Jacksonville, Fla.

Even though he knows it’s just an exhibition game, and that Jim Everett is the regular starter, Long can’t help but count the hours until he leads the Rams on their first possession.

You want an exhibition, Long is ready to give you one.

“I want to show them in this game as well as the whole preseason that I am capable of being a starting quarterback in this league,” he said. “Plus, I want to see what I can do as a starter again. I haven’t been a starter in a long time, and I’m looking forward to it.”

The Rams traded this year’s third-round draft choice to acquire Long from Detroit, where a coaching change, a new run-and-shoot offense and a few other talented quarterbacks made Long happy to leave.

He came to Detroit amid great pomp and splendor in 1986 after an outstanding career at Iowa. He was a first-round draft choice (12th overall and nine picks behind Everett) who was promised he would be the man in the Motor City for a decade.

He left with only memories of what it was like to start a football game.

There’s not exactly a lot of playing time available with the Rams, since Everett has started every game since the middle of the ’87 season. Long, who was still adjusting to the new offense, didn’t even get much time in last year’s preseason.

“I think they want to see what I can do in a starting role,” Long said of Saturday’s start. “I’m sure Jim will get a lot more time in the last three preseason games. I didn’t get a lot of time in the games last year. For whatever reason, things didn’t work out that way.

“I think they just want to give me more time this year and make sure I have the system under control.

“I feel a lot more decisive going into this year with the reads and the system. I got traded last year, and it takes a while to learn a new system. You can’t play well unless you’re real comfortable with everything.”

When last year’s regular season rolled in, and the Rams did their roll-over-and-die routine, Long got in for only five passes in the waning moments of games.

Not exactly sterling work for a player who was expected to be an instant NFL star. He concedes looking at several teams and believes he could step in and start for them, but says as long as free-agency eludes the players, he can’t worry about that.

All he can do is complete passes when he is asked to.

“You know, I’m in the prime of my life right now, and things really haven’t worked out like I’ve wanted them to work out when I first got into the league,” Long said. “That’s obvious. But life goes on.

“The way I look at it, if I keep working hard, things are going to happen. You play in this league long enough, as long as you have a uniform on, there’s always a chance. I believe there’s going to be a chance to play.”

He gets that chance Saturday, at least for three quarters, his first solid block of playing time as a Ram. He gets a chance to throw passes to the front-line receivers and stand behind the front-line offensive line.

“When you’re in there in small doses, you wind up, (getting) four passes and six runs. You know how that goes. And you always have bad guys, you never have the sense of the start of the game,” Coach John Robinson said. “I just want to see him be the quarterback and see how it goes.”

Robinson brought in veteran quarterback Mike Pagel as a free agent this spring, and said Pagel would compete with Long for the No. 2 slot.

Pagel, who has started games with the Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns, is scheduled to play the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.

“They’ve both played in the league,” Robinson said. “I think if one of them suddenly took off in some capacity, they would be (our No. 2 quarterback), but I think they’re both doing a consistently good job.”

Long said he wasn’t bothered by the addition of Pagel, adding that it’s only natural that teams want to collect as many good quarterbacks as possible.

“At least I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the starting position before, and I think that’s going to help out in the long run,” Long said. “I know what to do in a starting role.”