Everett Keeps Turnaround Turned Up : Rams: He completes a personal-best 87.7% of his passes and is 49 of 65 in his last three games after a poor start.
When things go bad, Jim Everett can be very, very bad. Remember when he sacked himself during the Rams’ 30-3 NFC championship game loss to San Francisco after the 1989 season?
When things go well, however, he can be unstoppable.
During the Rams’ 38-17 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday, Everett was almost perfect. He completed his first three passes before throwing a slightly-high-but-catchable pass that glanced off the hand of Henry Ellard. Then he completed 11 in a row before David Lang dropped a ball that was thrown slightly behind him.
“It was really great to see Jimbo standing in the pocket and leading this team,” linebacker Kevin Greene said. “Was he leading this team? He was leading this team.”
Everett completed 18 of 21 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns, finishing with a personal-best 87.7 completion percentage, eclipsing the 83.3% mark he set two weeks ago in San Francisco.
And he was leading the charge with pre-play pep talks in the huddle.
“We would come back to the huddle and all he’s talking about is what a great job the offensive line did to keep opening holes,” veteran tackle Jackie Slater said. “You start to feed off that. He’s the leader in the huddle, and he just took charge of the game.
“He talked to everybody. It really made a difference. In my opinion, it made a big difference.”
After four games, Everett had completed 58 of 114 passes for three touchdowns with six interceptions. In the last three, he is 49 of 65 with four touchdown passes and two interceptions.
Quarterback coach Ted Tollner would like to make a point. He won’t deny Everett feeds off success and that his game deteriorates when things go wrong, but he believes Everett’s steadfast dedication to preparation never varies.
“Jim went down as other things went down,” Tollner said. “That’s the fair thing to say. No doubt, he didn’t play as well as he’s capable of. I think that happens to anybody to a degree, but he’s not a streak guy because of a difference in preparation.
“It has more to do with the way the game unfolds and there’s a difference there. When nobody makes plays, you lose confidence. That’s the way it goes in all of sport.”
So, on a day when the offensive line gave up only one sack and very little pressure, and Cleveland Gary rushed for a personal-best 126 yards--Everett came out smoking. He passed for 54 yards as the Rams drove 67 yards for a touchdown on their first possession and he didn’t let up until he was kneeling down to run out the clock.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to take a knee at the end of the game and beat somebody the way we beat the Giants today,” Everett said. “A lot of credit goes to a lot of people. Cleveland was running hard and the offensive line played the best game they have all season. It allowed me to be confident and do the things in the pocket I’m asked to do.”
That, according to Everett and Tollner, is a key factor. If Everett can get off to a quick start and not try to do any more than what he is asked to do, he can be an awesome force.
Both of his touchdown passes Sunday were examples of what a confident Everett can do. Midway through the second quarter, after Gary had already established the Rams’ ability to run the ball up the middle, the Rams faced a second-and-four situation at the New York nine-yard line.
Everett faked a handoff to Gary and rolled to his right. No one followed, and Everett tossed a touchdown pass to a wide-open Pat Carter.
“We just called our keeper and everyone bit on Cleveland’s run,” Everett said. “The pass was wide open. They had to cover Cleveland, and that allowed us to have that touchdown.”
His second touchdown pass came late in the third quarter on a third-and-inches play from the Giants’ 19-yard line. With New York again expecting the run, Everett laid up a perfect touch pass to Jeff Chadwick in the corner of the end zone.
“We took the risk and went right up top,” Everett said. “At first, I didn’t think Jeff was going to get off the line of scrimmage because they chucked him pretty good. But he’s a big boy, and he got off the line and made the great play.
“That’s the kind of thing you can do when things are going your way.”