Everett Gets His Revenge on Glanville : Rams: Quarterback hasnât forgotten what coach has said about him during his holdout days in Houston.
Twice Sunday afternoon, Jim Everett had that look on his face, the look in which the eyes inflate like miniature blimps and the smile shifts into spread formation.
The first time came in the third quarter, when Everett spotted the Atlanta Falcons in a full-on safety blitz, which left Flipper Anderson twiddling his thumbs far downfield, awaiting the re-entry of Everettâs 37-yard touchdown lob.
The second time came in the locker room, when someone asked Everett about the personal satisfaction derived by beating Jerry Glanville at his own game, in a rout, by a final score of 44-24.
âItâs good,â Everett said without a momentâs hesitation. âItâs nice to even the series with him.
âBut we still have another one. Iâm sure we havenât heard the last of Jerry Glanville.â
Everett hasnât. Ever since he refused to sign with Glanvilleâs Houston Oilers in 1986, forcing his eventual trade to the Rams, heâs had to handle an earful.
Everett canât take a hit, Jerry jabbed.
Everett has chicken legs . . . and a heart to go with it.
Everett sure looks like he could use some real coaching.
Hell hath no fury like a football coach scorned.
Glanville had the opportunity to rub it in in 1987, when the Oilers upset the Rams on opening day, 20-16, under the Astrodome. And you know Glanville. He has never been one to let an opportunity go to waste.
Three years later, Glanville was back in black, Atlanta Falcon black, and Everett turned the reunion into a dark affair, completing 24 of 38 passes for 302 yards, three touchdowns and a Ram triumph.
Forty-four points, counterpoint?
âI just like to win, period,â Everett said. âIt goes beyond anything between two people. It great to see your teammates with smiles on their faces. Itâs good to see the light in their eyes. Weâve been through some damn hard times the past five weeks.â
The past five weeks, Everettâs Rams were 1-4. That put them behind everyone else in the NFC West, including Glanvilleâs Falcons.
Everett admitted waiting for this one with special anticipation. The sensation first struck about the same time the Glanville-to-Atlanta story first hit the wires.
âI look forward to playing him,â Everett said. âThere are some things that happened down there (in Houston) that were the cause of Jerry Glanville, but itâs his style to be the voice of the team. He has a very aggressive attitude, and itâs his way of trying to rally a team around him.â
More than that, Everett believes Glanville rallied an entire city around him--and against Everett--during the embittered holdout days of 1986.
âHere I was,â Everett said, âa 22-year old man who just wants to play the game of football, and hereâs Houston, wanting to pay me second-round money when I was the third guy taken in the draft.
âI had to live with being trade bait. Itâs tough on a young guy. . . . Jerry was saying things about me during the holdout and, basically, he had the ear of everyone in Houston. Heâs calling me a greedy young kid. All I wanted was to be treated the way I was supposed to be.â
Everett has found it in Anaheim, where the Rams not only rolled out the red carpet, but had it dry-cleaned and lined with rose petals. The Rams gave him a $14-million contract, an impenetrable offensive line, the fleetest fleet of receivers this side of the Golden Gate.
âEverything turned out for the best,â Everett notes.
Now in his fifth NFL season, Everett has the benefit of perspective and timeâs passage. Today, he says, âI donât know if that was really Jerry talking then. He might have been pressured. We were just two pawns on the board.â
If Glanville wonât publicly reveal any new respect for Everett, his actions Sunday spoke loudly enough. If Everett still rattled in the pocket under pressure, Glanville would have sent his linebackers and safeties blitzing from kickoff to sundown.
Instead, Atlantaâs defense came out backpedaling, choosing containment over derailment, which Everett claimed was one reason he needed a quarter--and a 10-0 deficit--before he got jump-started.
âInitially, we were prepared for the blitz all the time,â Everett said. âBut they came out in a loose zone. They were playing a scheme designed not to give up the big play. It took me a little time to adjust.â
The adjustment took Everett from a five-for-14 start to 14 completions in his next 16 attempts. Along the way, the Rams scored on eight consecutive possessions, outpointing the Falcons in the process, 44-7.
And for Everett, no points were sweeter than the ones Anderson produced on one of the very few times Glanville called for the blitz.
âWe were prepared for that,â Everett said, grinning again. âI saw âem coming right away and I was yelling to (fullback) Buford (McGee)--âBuford, Buford, here he comes, pick him up!â
âBuford made the block and all I had to do was pick a spot and throw to it. Flipper just ran it down.â
Now the scoreboard reads: Everett 1, Glanville 1. The two still havenât spoken since Everett left Houston. After Sundayâs game, Everett shook hands with several Falcons.
But not Glanville.
âMaybe if he has something pertinent to say someday, Iâll respond,â Everett said.
Glanville was too busy assessing his own damage to address old battle lines with old quarterbacks, so Everett got the last word, on the field and off.
âYouâve got to respect Jerry as a coach,â Everett said. âHe knows how to motivate a team. But he doesnât put on a helmet. He doesnât put on the pads. Weâre in two different realms.â
Kind of sounds as if Everett wouldnât mind seeing Jerry lining up at free safety the next time their paths cross.
Everett laughed at the suggestion.
â I didnât say that.â