Everett Has More Than Playoffs Riding in Finale

FOXBORO, Mass. —  Suppose you were putting together a football team for one big game. Suppose your opponent had Boomer Esiason, Eric Dickerson, Christian Okoye and Bruce Smith. Suppose you wanted to win this game.

Who do you pick to be your quarterback--Jim Everett or Don Majkowski?

When confronted with this simple quiz, the playing membership of the National Football Conference either flunked or flipped a coin or flipped its wig, because the vote went to Majkowski.

Care to make it two out of three?

People must be suckers for guys nicknamed Magic. Or Majik. Especially when this one plays for Green Bay, whose last quarterbacking star was a Starr. After a deep freeze, the Pack is almost back and Majkowski’s passing yards are 4,086 good reasons why.

But if anyone has had a better season than Everett, his name is Montana--and Bay Area Joe already has a berth on the NFC Pro Bowl roster.

If Majkowski warms hearts, Everett stops them. John Elway’s legend is mountain-high because of one drive against Cleveland in the 1986 AFC championship game, but in the past two months, Everett has had five of them. Back from the dead against San Francisco, New Orleans and Dallas. To the brink of victory against Buffalo and Minnesota.

With a little defense, Everett would be 5-0 in those games and playing for the NFC West championship today.

Without Everett, the count is very likely 0-5, leaving the Rams out in the cold long before their plane touched down in New England.

As it is, the Rams can make the playoffs on their own accord with a victory this afternoon, which is more than Majkowski’s Packers are able to say.

If that isn’t enough to gain Everett admittance to the Pro Bowl, well, he shouldn’t brood long.

Soon, Everett will be able to buy the Pro Bowl.

In the final days of his current contract, Everett has picked a fine time to become a free agent. We won’t argue here that Everett is the best quarterback the Rams have ever had, although the evidence is mounting. We will, however, say with total confidence that Everett is about to become the most expensive quarterback to wear the horned helmet.

Before Everett, no Ram had thrown for 4,000 yards in a single season. Not Norm Van Brocklin, not Bob Waterfield, not Roman Gabriel, not Vince Ferragamo.

Everett has 4,129 yards--and one game to go.

Before Everett, no Ram had thrown more than 30 touchdowns passes in a single season. Everett had 31 in 1988 and with a league-leading 28 touchdown passes this season, he could do it again.

Everett also has completed 59.5% of his passes--59.7% is the Ram record--and his quarterback efficiency rating of 93.2 ranks third in the league behind Montana and Esiason.

Want more?

--In his past two seasons, Everett has passed for 8,093 yards--or more than the entire Ram careers of James Harris and John Hadl, combined.

--In 3 1/2 seasons as a starter, Everett already ranks fourth on the club’s career passing list with 11,175 yards. Only Gabriel (22,223), Van Brocklin (16,114) and Waterfield (11,893) have more.

--With Everett as starting quarterback, the Rams have yet to score fewer than 10 points in any game. With Dieter Brock, the Rams did that three times in 1985 alone.

Before Everett, Eric Dickerson was the highest-paid Ram in history at $686,000 in 1987. Look for Everett to triple that, if the Rams wish to enter the ‘90s with him on their side.

As Randall Cunningham and Bernie Kosar recently established, the going rate for prime-time NFL quarterbacks is $2 million per year. Everett also will seek some security. Does $14 million for five years sound out of line?

Unlike Mark Langston, Everett already has proved he can pitch in Anaheim.

Coming this winter, the Everett contract negotiations will be bigger and better than anything Dickerson ever conspired or desired. And well they should be. When the Rams lost Dickerson, they plugged in Greg Bell and kept the 1,000-yard seasons rolling.

If they lose Everett, are you prepared for the Mark Herrmann decade?

Unlike the Dickerson debacle, the Rams will have a few advantages when they deal with Everett. For one, Everett is a nice guy. For another, he wants to stay in Anaheim and hasn’t told anyone lately to go run 47-gap. Lastly, Everett’s agent, Marvin Demoff, has a decent relationship with Ram vice president John Shaw, no minor detail.

In a way, Everett’s salary drive begins today. Beat the Patriots and it’s on to the playoffs. Win again and the ante goes up. The higher the round in January, the higher the ground come February.

No Ram quarterback has won a Super Bowl, so that’s something for Everett to shoot for. Better yet, it’s something Everett can take care of with his own hands and his own Rams.

To get into this bowl, all you need are victories, not votes.