Is This End of an Era for Rams and Everett?

Coach Chuck Knox has given the football to T.J. Rubley, and although it will stop Jim Everett’s streak of 87 consecutive starts, is it really the end of an era for the Rams?

“I don’t think this portends the end of anything for Jim Everett,” Knox said. “I think this: Jim Everett is a competitor and he will bounce back.”

Will Everett return to command a week from now, a month from now, a year from now, and play well again as he did in 1989? Will a game-winning relief performance somewhere down the schedule silence the boos? Can he win favor with the coaching staff again?

“I’m disappointed that this is how things have to be,” Everett said. “If Coach thinks this is best for the team, then that’s who I’m going with. There will be plenty of time to re-evaluate what’s happened at the end of the season.

“I just hope this is the best move for this football team. Coach Knox thinks it is, and I just hope it all pays off.”

Everett, who received a $430,000 reporting bonus to start the season, will earn $125,000 Sunday as the Rams’ backup quarterback--the same amount Rubley will earn for the entire season.

Everett’s contract, which was agreed upon after he threw a league-high 60 touchdown passes in 1988 and ‘89, calls for $2.5 million next season and $2.6 million in 1995. The Rams thought they had one of the top quarterbacks in the game at the time, but now their highest-paid player is standing on the sideline, while the 228th player in the 1992 draft is the No. 1 quarterback.

“I don’t think we’re concerned with what the future is going to bring right now,” said Ernie Zampese, Ram offensive coordinator. “Hell, we’re trying to win a football game. We’re 2-5. In this business, you get fired when you lose.”

The Rams’ future, however, might very well rest on the outcome of the next nine games. Will Rubley’s promotion send Everett elsewhere to finish his career?

“I think where he is age-wise (30), he’s somewhere in the middle to early second half of his career,” said Ted Tollner, Ram quarterback coach. “There’s a lot of good football in front of him. We have not heard the end of Jim Everett as a starter, in my opinion.

“(The situation) is difficult for Jim, but not impossible. It’s a bottom-line game; you get an opportunity again, you perform and everything is fine again. There are a lot of places around the NFL where quarterbacks are in difficult situations and some overcome it and some don’t. He certainly has the ability to overcome it. It won’t be the easiest deal, but at this point the important thing is to get Rubley ready.”

Rubley stepped into the huddle with the first offensive unit Wednesday, the first time since mid-November, 1986, that a sound Everett wasn’t the quarterback in charge.

Everett made his 87th consecutive start on Sunday, the longest current streak in the league.

“It was (a source of pride), but during that streak I would have liked to have gotten more wins, too,” said Everett, who compiled a 37-50 mark. “It’s not all durability. To a point it is, but for the most part it’s just wins and losses and that’s what it has come down to.”