COMMENTARY : Ram Cry Should Become ’10 Days to T.J.’

The Melonheads have already made up their seed-and-rind adorned minds.

“T.J.! T.J.! T.J.!” they chanted as they leaned out over the north tunnel at Anaheim Stadium, reaching down in hopes of slapping the back of their new favorite quarterback.

“You (stink)! You (stink)!” they bellowed as Jim Everett ducked his head and followed a few steps behind.

“C’mon, Chuck!” another red face yelled at the Rams’ coach. “Be a man! Get Everett out of there!”

Chuck Knox tugged at the bill of his cap and quickly disappeared inside, breaking for daylight, hoping that the voices would go away just as soon as he was safely beyond earshot.

But they won’t.

Not after another 10-for-25 swoon by Everett, the Duncan Yo-Yo of professional quarterbacks, and not after a 37-6 pasting at home at the hands of the New Orleans Saints.

Not with a bye week facing the Rams and 10 whole working days in which to groom a replacement.

Not with 0-5 Atlanta next on the schedule.

If ever there was a time for the Rams to make a change at quarterback, it is now.

If the Rams are ever going to find out whether young T.J. Rubley, Mr. August, can cut it in a regular-season NFL game, against first-string competition, they will never have a better chance than Oct. 14 on the floor of Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.

The Falcons are not Houston or New Orleans. Their defense is ranked last in the NFL. They gave up 45 points to a team quarterbacked by Neil O’Donnell.

The Rams couldn’t pick a better test course for Rubley if they tried.

For once, time is on the Rams’ side. If they decide today to throw Rubley in there, they have a week and a half to get him ready. The company-line excuse to date has been that Rubley hasn’t had a lot of center snaps. The Rams ought to commence them immediately.

What do they have to lose?

Knox dipped a tentative toe into the water Sunday when he removed Everett from a hopeless cause with 9:26 to play, after Everett had fumbled and thrown an interception on the Rams’ previous two possessions.

Knox sent in Mike Pagel, who, at this stage in his career, is more proven as a mop-up man than either a starter or a closer. Pagel was a tad rusty. He threw nine passes, most of them all over the yard. He completed four--three to Rams, one to a Saint. He was presented three ball possessions and he produced one first down.

In a nutshell, Pagel was the best thing to happen to Everett all day.

But what about Rubley?

The second-year pro from Tulsa remains a mystery, largely because of Knox. Whatever reputation he has is based on two skimpy bits of information:

One, he has looked good in exhibition games.

Two, he is not Jim Everett.

Is that enough to launch a career as a starting quarterback in the NFL?

Ram fans say why not, Ram coaches say they need to see the film.

“Would I give Rubley a chance to start now?” Knox said, repeating a reporter’s question. “We don’t address those things on game day.”

Later, when asked to elaborate, Knox said, “We have to look at the films. We have two weeks.”

We have two weeks. What did Knox mean--that the Rams have two weeks to turn the offense over to new hands?

“That,” Knox said, “would be your speculation.”

Ted Tollner, the Ram quarterback coach, said at this point “everything is an option. I’m the wrong guy to address the situation; it’s Chuck’s call. But I personally think--and this is an opinion I will express to Chuck--that Jim Everett is the quarterback who gives us the best chance to win.”

Is that to suggest Rubley isn’t ready?

“I don’t think you ever know that,” Tollner replied. “You get a false sense of accomplishment in the preseason. Everything we’ve asked (Rubley) to do in the preseason, he’s done very, very well. But it’s a big step up to the regular season.

“I worked with two young quarterbacks in San Diego, Billy Joe Tolliver and John Friesz, who were asked to make similar steps. And they didn’t have the same success they experienced in the preseason. So, you have to ask yourself: Was it too early?

“(Rubley) has done the right stuff so far. But you’re asking him to take a major step. We know Jim Everett can do it. There have been times when he hasn’t done it, but we know Jim Everett can play winning football. Why he doesn’t do it more consistently is a puzzle.”

John Shaw, the Rams’ reporter-shy general manager, wanted no part of the discussion. On the record, Shaw said he had “no comment” on the matter, except to say that “it’s Chuck’s call. He makes those decisions, and I will support whatever decision Chuck makes.”

But from his private suite above the Anaheim Stadium press box, Shaw hears the boos. Do the sentiments of the fans mean anything to him?

“Of course they do,” said Shaw, blushing at the question. “The fans are feeling frustrated that we aren’t winning more games. I empathize with it. We’re trying our best to understand it, to do what we have to do to make this a winning football team.”

At 16-37 in the 1990s, with the wheels spinning in the mud, with Everett blowing wildly hot and cold from one Sunday to another, the next thing to do could be trying a new quarterback.

At any rate, it should make for a lively two weeks of talk-show conversation.

“A week and a half,” Shaw corrected.