Patriots’ Millen Has Job Security Now : NFL: Quarterback, who was displaced from the Rams’ job by Jim Everett, is making believers of New England coaches.

Hugh Millen and Jim Everett speak the same language. Zampese, that is.

Former Ram quarterback coach Dick Coury, now the offensive coordinator at New England, has installed the system developed by Ernie Zampese, architect of the Ram offense.

“What we’re using is almost 100% Ernie, even the terminology is the same,” Coury said. “The quarterbacks could switch places and not miss a beat.”

But then they’ve already done that.

After the Rams drafted him in the third round in 1986, Millen figured he was the prime candidate to become the Ram quarterback of the ‘90s. After all, how long does it take a talented rookie to beat out a 35-year-old Dieter Brock and 34-year-old (and hobbled) Steve Bartkowski?

“I thought a year or two of watching Steve or Dieter and I might be ready to play,” Millen said.

But Millen broke his ankle during a rookie scrimmage early in training camp. Brock was injured in the first preseason game. Bartkowski got hurt, too, and the Rams made the deal with Houston for Everett.

In training camp the next year, the Everett-Millen battle for the starting job was joined. Millen got no ammunition, however. Everett got virtually every snap in practice and exhibition play.

“I’m not bitter,” Millen said. “The Rams made that investment in Jim, and he was highly touted, and they needed to give him the work. They had just hired Ernie and had a new offensive system and he had to get the bulk of the workload.

“I don’t question the way the Rams handled it. It was just an unfortunate sequence of events from my standpoint. And I don’t have any grudge in regards to Jim, either.”

Apparently not. What do you do with the man who steals your future? In California, you go jet-skiing together, of course.

“We socialized on a number of occasions,” Millen said. “He took me out jet skiing several times--he was the one able to afford them. Jim’s a very amiable guy and good company.

“And he’s a good leader on a football team. I really respect that.”

Sunday, they meet again, a couple of quarterbacks struggling to find their sea legs on the stormy waters of the NFL.

In the five years since they last jumped waves together, Everett has seen smooth sailing and been blown off course plenty, too. Millen is just happy to finally be captain of his own ship.

Waived by the Rams in 1988, Millen was claimed by Atlanta. Different uniforms, but the same situation.

“I did a lot of watching in LA, then I went to Atlanta and it was very similar because Chris Miller was the investment of that franchise,” Millen said. “He was a No. 1 pick and had played well.”

Determined to find a team where he could compete for the starting job, Millen asked Atlanta to waive him after the 1990 season opener. He later returned, but only after signing a contract that stipulated he would be placed on the Plan B list after the season.

He started the final two games and the Falcons won both--including a 20-13 victory over the Rams--but Millen signed a one-year contract with New England the next spring.

Finally, he got his chance.

And, for the first time, Millen wished his career wasn’t going the way Everett’s was. The Patriots offensive line allowed a league-high 63 sacks last season and Millen’s numbers--nine touchdowns, 18 interceptions--showed the stress cracks of a quarterback under pressure.

He did, however, throw for 3,073 yards, becoming the first Patriot to do so since Tony Eason in 1986. And the Patriots, 1-15 the year before, finished 6-10.

While Millen wasn’t near the top of the quarterback ratings last season, he’s close to No. 1 in Coach Dick MacPherson’s heart.

“I think he should just be coming into his own now,” MacPherson said. “We’re talking about a guy who’s tall and strong. He’s intelligent and wants to do it so bad. He’s always had to work his way up and loves that kind of challenge.

“He’s everything you want in a quarterback. He’s gotten the crap kicked out of him and acts like he doesn’t even know it yet. He’s a smart passer who knows where to throw the ball. He’s extremely accurate. And he understands the system.

“I expect him to be the quarterback for New England Patriots for 1992 and I told him, ‘You don’t have to worry, go out there and show people that you’re going to be the Patriots’ quarterback for the ‘90s.’

“As long as he stays, I stay. If they fire him, I’m leaving.”

So Everett, 29, makes $2 million a year and Millen, 28, just signed a two-year contract worth more than $2.8 million. Everett threw for 3,438 yards and 11 touchdowns with 20 interceptions last year, numbers very similar to Millen’s.

Equals at last? Not quite, in Coury’s estimation, anyway.

“I’ve always said Jim Everett is one of the top five or six quarterbacks in the league,” Coury said, “but we think Hugh can be that same kind of franchise quarterback.

“I’ve always thought Hugh had a good enough arm to play in this league. That’s what we liked best about him when we drafted him when I was with the Rams. He’s got the arm strength, good size and he’s smart as the devil, but you’ve got to be consistent for two or three years in this league before you’ve arrived.”

Millen appears to be doing everything humanly possible to hasten that arrival.

“He stays out here the whole off-season working with our receivers,” said Coury, a former Cal State Fullerton head coach. “For a California guy to stay back here when he doesn’t have to, now that’s real dedication.”

And when Coury was teaching his new scheme last year, Millen spent untold hours in the film room, watching Henry Ellard, Flipper Anderson and, of course, Everett.

“The best teaching mechanism we have are these training films,” Millen said. “Dick would put up a play on the blackboard, then he’d walk back and stick in a tape, which basically amounted to three years of Ram highlights of each individual play. Maybe 15, 20 examples of that certain play being executed well.”

Millen realizes that all the preparation he brings to the field can’t make up for experience. Nothing can substitute for a month of Sundays with your helmet on, and Millen figures he’s mastered the baseball-cap-and-clipboard routine.

“After three or four years in league, you reach a point of diminishing returns in terms of what you can learn in the meeting room and from watching other quarterbacks,” he said. “I’ve reached that.”

So now he returns to Anaheim with a little something to prove. More than anything, of course, Millen wants a quick start on proving he is the quarterback the Patriots should rebuild around.

But he also wouldn’t mind reminding some folks in the Ram organization that they let a good one get away. And wouldn’t it be nice to leave his old jet-skiing buddy in his wake for a change?

“Players that play against former teams have a little bit of extra incentive,” Millen says diplomatically, “but I’m more concerned with getting us a victory than making amends for past grudges.

“I’ve been able to stay in this league. The quarterback position is unique in football. At any other position, you may not be the best at your position, but you’re still going to get in the game. But I haven’t seen a formation yet that employs two quarterbacks.

“Ideally, you want your quarterback getting every snap until the end of the game, when he takes a knee to secure the victory. So there’s only 28 spots and those spots are hard to come by. Sometimes you have to take a circuitous route to get one. And I have.”

Now, he can afford his own jet ski.

“But now I don’t have the Pacific Ocean,” he said, “and there’s not much jet-skiing going on in Boston Harbor. You’d need a gas mask.”