Bad Plays Mean Pagel Gets to Play : Rams: Backup manages a touchdown pass after replacing Everett with team trailing by 24 points in the fourth quarter.

Mike Pagel’s Sunday afternoons are usually spent holding on kicks for Tony Zendejas. So that might explain the backup quarterback’s reaction when he replaced starter Jim Everett with the Rams trailing the Atlanta Falcons, 31-7, in the fourth quarter.

“It wasn’t really the situation I wanted to be in,” Pagel said, “but any time I get to play, it’s great. When found out I was going in, it was like, ‘Yaaaahooo!’ ”

Pagel responded with the Rams’ only touchdown pass in a 31-14 loss to the Falcons--an 18-yarder to Pat Carter with 2 minutes 10 seconds left.

“It was just a play-action bootleg,” Pagel said. “Pat did all the work, and thank God he was wide open. I don’t think Atlanta was expecting us to throw in that situation.”

Despite the late touchdown pass, Ram Coach John Robinson wasn’t exactly handing out compliments about his backup quarterback after the game.

“He only threw two passes,” Robinson said. “I don’t think there were any gems out there in the course of the entire game.”

Still, Pagel, a 10-year veteran who started 54 games with Indianapolis and Cleveland, was just glad to play. His only other action this season, besides holding on kicks, was a few snaps against San Francisco five weeks ago.

“Even though we were behind, it was still a lot of fun to get out there,” Pagel said. “That’s what I’m in the business for, to have fun.”

Pagel completed only the one pass, but he and running back Marcus Dupree briefly brought to life an offense that has been in a standstill for much of the season.

Dupree, in his first game of the season after missing seven with a dislocated toe, carried six times for 38 yards, including a 24-yard run that set up Pagel’s touchdown pass.

But the score came far too late for the Rams (3-5), who managed only 93 yards total offense in the first half and trailed, 31-0, by the start of the fourth quarter.

“We couldn’t make any plays today,” Pagel said. “Atlanta threw down a gauntlet at us, and we couldn’t get through it.”

The loss was a major blow to the Rams’ playoff hopes, and it leaves Pagel in limbo. But the Rams aren’t likely to bench Everett any time soon.

“We’ve worked ourselves into a bad situation,” Pagel said. “But it’s not a hopeless one. We have the talent to play with anyone in this league. We just don’t believe that we can make the plays right now.”

Things could get better, he said.

“Hopefully, the next time I get in, Jim will have us up by two touchdowns and I can just hand the ball off to guys like Marcus Dupree,” Pagel said. “Now that would be a fun situation to be in.”