Rams Noncommittal About Quarterback Choice : Pro football: Knox says he doesn’t have to make a decision now.

The question was asked, just as he knew it would be, just as it had been raised the previous two weeks, and once again Ram quarterback Jim Everett chose to run from it.

“Do you think there’s any question who the starting quarterback should be for the next game?”

Everett’s response: “No.”

“But who would that be?”

Everett’s reply: “Anything else, guys?”

Of course, there’s a whole lot more to discuss. Do the Rams make a short-time switch to T.J. Rubley against winless Atlanta to take the heat off Everett?

“I think that’s out of the question,” Everett said. “I think I’m a very well-prepared quarterback. I think I can play very effectively and I don’t think that’s the answer. So I’d say, no.”

The Ram defense kept the Saints within a 16-6 striking distance despite Everett’s erratic play during the first three quarters Sunday, but a pair of critical mistakes by Everett in the fourth quarter opened the floodgates. Is it time to make a change at starting quarterback?

“If it was just me, I think that would be the change,” Everett said. “It’s a combination . . . I’ll tell you, we have things on this offense that we’re trying to get ironed out . . . If it was just one thing I think it would be correctable.

“What we’re looking at it is hopefully getting back to .500, win this Atlanta game and then I think the schedule favors us for the last 10 games. That’s the way I look at it.”

But how does Coach Chuck Knox assess the situation?

“I would say again what I have said every Monday,” Knox said. “We don’t make personnel decisions on Monday and Jim Everett is still our No. 1 quarterback.”

Is Rubley ready to start in the NFL, thereby allowing the Rams to even consider making such a switch?

“I think he’s capable of being part of any decision-making process, otherwise we wouldn’t have him on the team,” Knox said. “But we don’t have to make that decision right now. We don’t have a game this week.

“The only question that would determine my decision is what quarterback affords us the best opportunity to win this game, this particular week. We’re 2-3 and we’re not out of this thing yet. We got a ways to go.”

Everett, who is once again the lowest-rated passer in the NFC, completed 10 of 25 for 126 yards Sunday, with one interception.

“There were a couple of times when he had plenty of time and a good lane and the ball didn’t get there,” Knox said. “It’s the same reason why some pitchers can come out and pitch a no-hitter and then the next time they don’t have all their stuff. That happens.

“He himself was not responsible for what happened to us (Sunday). He wasn’t on the punt return team when they ran the fake punt. He wasn’t covering kickoffs and he was not covering punts. So there are a lot of people that have to take responsibility for what happened.”

Although Knox does not announce personnel decisions on Monday, he all but proclaimed Jerome Bettis the team’s starting running back.

Bettis ran 22 times for 102 yards, Cleveland Gary four times for 13 yards.