For Everett, a Long Drought Is Over : Rams: He throws two touchdown passes to tight end Jim Price, each completion getting easier after weeks of woe.

It was just a little 18-yard pass to the tight end to tie a last-place team, 7-7, in the second quarter. But the ensuing celebration was worthy of the game-winning touchdown in a Super Bowl.

It was 1:41 p.m. Sunday, and Jim Everett had thrown his first touchdown pass of 1991. He hugged center Doug Smith. He stood frozen for a second or two with his fists raised high, acknowledging the cheers of the Anaheim Stadium crowd. He ran and jumped on Jim Price, his roommate and the man who had caught The First Touchdown Pass. Then he sprinted toward the sideline and through a mob of well-wishing teammates to wrap up John Robinson in a flying bear hug that sent the Ram coach’s blue cap spinning on his head.

Was there anyone Everett failed to thank? Did anyone miss out on the congratulatory celebration that continued on the sidelines for the next few minutes?

“Well, my parents weren’t there,” Everett said, managing a laugh. “It was very emotional for me. I was extremely happy. As far as a sigh of relief, well, you guys have made it damn hard on me. So now, I’ll just take that monkey off my back and give it to Wayne Gretzky, who hasn’t scored his first goal yet.”

Chances are, Gretzky won’t have to answer questions for six weeks about his scoring slump. And it’s an ordeal Everett hopes he’ll never have to face again.

The Rams, after Sunday’s 30-24 victory over San Diego, are 3-3 and tied for second place. And Everett, who also threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Price in the fourth quarter and finished 19 for 25 for 219 yards without an interception, is beginning to move from the depths of the quarterback ratings.

But as much as the Rams tried to downplay the importance of a touchdown pass, as often as they insisted a victory of any sort was more important than a catch in the end zone, tension mounted with every game that Everett didn’t throw a scoring pass. And it showed.

“It’s been tough--very tough,” Everett said. “I thought things would happen a little bit earlier. I expected it. We have a very explosive-type offense, but it just wasn’t moving. There were plenty of reasons why, and I guess you guys have expanded upon all that and everyone has read about it.

“It was tough, but never at any time through all this have I doubted our system or doubted (offensive coordinator) Ernie Zampese. And I never doubted the leadership of John Robinson.

“We’ve never been wishy-washy on that. We believe in what we do. We just haven’t done it well before today.”

The Ram passing game, thanks in part to an extra week of fine-tuning because of last week’s bye, finally was running on all cylinders. After starting with two incomplete passes and a sack on their first possession, Everett and Co. looked as if they had time-warped back to 1989.

Everett completed 18 of his next 19 passes--”Who dropped that one?” Everett demanded to know--and the Ram offense was rolling, scoring on drives of 80, 80, 85 and 87 yards.

“During the New Orleans’ game (a 24-7 Ram loss during which Everett completed six passes), I felt like a marked man,” tailback Robert Delpino said. “And I was a marked man, as my body would have told you the next Monday morning.

“It was a little more comfortable back there today. We came in trying to throw, and the passing game really came together. I mean, this is something we used to do, game in and game out. Jim had been taking a lot of harassment in the media over this, but we always knew his talents. Still, the touchdown was a great boost for us. I can only imagine what this means for Jim.”

Given Everett’s reaction, immediately after the touchdown and later, it meant more than he would have let on the past month and a half.

But Robinson says he never lost the faith. It was, he kept saying, simply a matter of time.

“Jim Everett’s playing like Jim Everett can play,” Robinson said. “I think it would be very interesting to take Jim’s rating from the Green Bay game on through the rest of the year and see what his rating is like.

“He went through some tough times. We went through some tough times. He had a bad game in New Orleans and a bad game at San Francisco, I guess. But we had an outstanding performance from our quarterback today. We had leadership from him today. And we had rhythm from our offensive football team, and that’s good news, folks.”

Everett’s technique, his ability to move in the pocket, even his intestinal fortitude came under scrutiny as the Ram passing game flailed and failed. Sunday, however, something clicked. Everett completed passes thrown off his back foot. He completed passes after dodging linemen. And, most important, he stepped up and gunned two passes to a teammate in the end zone.

Success? It was only a victory over the Chargers, after all. It was only one game and two touchdown passes. Apparently, however, it was the panacea for Jim Everett.