Rams’ Rubley Moves Up a Notch : Pro football: He becomes the No. 2 quarterback behind Everett and might hold for Zendejas’ kicks.

T.J. Rubley got a promotion Monday, and although he advanced only from No. 3 to No. 2, behind starting quarterback Jim Everett, the Rams’ confidence in Everett appears to be eroding.

In making the change, the Rams have decided to risk the effectiveness of kicker Tony Zendejas to better prepare Rubley for possible play. Coach Chuck Knox said that either wide receiver Todd Kinchen or Rubley will hold for Zendejas, while quarterback Mike Pagel, who has been the holder, will probably become inactive as the team’s No. 3 quarterback.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Zendejas said. “Changes come. It’s not the first time they have changed holders, and it won’t be the last.”

Knox said there is an outside chance of keeping three quarterbacks active for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions at Anaheim Stadium, to keep Pagel available as Zendejas’ holder. But if they do that, they must deactivate another player, thereby hurting their special teams.

In his first practice as Everett’s backup Monday, Rubley drove the team to a touchdown during two-minute offensive drills. In the same drill, Everett failed on fourth down.

Everett handled questions later about Rubley’s promotion mostly by ignoring them.

“Are these questions stumping you?” he finally was asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

Ted Tollner, the quarterback coach, took on the same questions, saying: “The heat that’s on (Everett) should be, ‘I want to win, I want to produce.’

” . . . If looking over your shoulder does happen, then that’s a negative. I’d be really disappointed in Jim if it did happen because where he is in his career, he has to be above that. He’s got to be way above that level if he’s going to perform on a consistent basis.”

Everett has thrown nine interceptions, two in last Thursday night’s defeat by Atlanta, leading to 14 points for the Falcons. Everett also has started 86 consecutive games, the longest streak in the NFL, and no immediate change in that status is planned, Knox said.

“Jim Everett’s the No. 1 quarterback with no ifs, buts or ands about that,” Knox said. “The reason we moved Rubley to No. 2 is to give him some more work in practice with the offense and all the special situations that come up.

“Also, he’s been working on his holding for field goals and placekicks.”

Knox had said previously that it would be unfair to Rubley, a ninth-round pick from Tulsa in 1992, to put him into a game as a reliever. He said he didn’t anticipate playing Rubley unless Rubley took a full week of practice as the team’s No. 1 quarterback and then started.

Everett’s erratic play, however, has apparently changed the Rams’ plans. There has been increasing sentiment within the organization to replace Everett with Rubley. Knox has resisted, but team sources said Monday that he compromised and agreed to move Rubley right behind Everett.

Knox said he made the switch because the team chose to run a full practice Monday, a day on which the team normally recovers from Sunday’s game.

“We had more time this week,” he said.

The Rams, however, had a bye a little more than a week ago and had several extra days to practice. No change was made then.

“That’s right,” Knox said. “We still have extra time this week and that’s the reason for the decision.”

Rubley, who apparently had won the No. 2 job in training camp, only to be dropped to No. 3 because of his inability to be the holder, caught the fancy of fans with his ability to scramble. He completed 22 of 48 passes for 319 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions in exhibition play.

Rubley and Kinchen remained after practice to hold for Zendejas, but despite the extra work, it appeared both were still struggling.

“I’m getting more comfortable each day,” Rubley said. “To me it’s like shooting free throws. At first you make two out of five, and then three, and four. I’m trying to get to that four-out-of-five range.”

Knox said he called in Everett before notifying Pagel and Rubley of the change.

“I don’t think this puts any more pressure on Everett because I told him I didn’t want him playing in there and looking over his shoulder to see if somebody else was warming up on the sideline,” Knox said. “We felt it was time for T.J. Rubley to get more work.”