PASSING FANCY : Rams Figure Their Combination Ranks Right Up There With 49ers’ Leading Duo

There’s a new passing combination in the National Football League that dares to challenge one of the legendary non-telephonic hookups in history, Joe Montana to Jerry Rice.

This duo happens to work in the same division, the NFC West, and is headed north to Candlestick Park this very weekend to remind the San Francisco 49ers of just that fact.

Jim Everett to Henry Ellard may already be one of the best quarterback-receiver combinations in Ram history, certainly rivaling Bob Waterfield to Tom Fears or Roman Gabriel to Jack Snow.

But how does it compare to the current big boys, Montana and Rice, maybe the best pair of all time? Well, Montana has three Super Bowl titles to none for Everett and Ellard. Rice won his first last season.

“They’ve got a few more rings holding down their hands,” Everett said. “But I think there is a definite combination that’s special and I realize that between Henry and I. What you compare us to is tough, especially being compared with guys like that.”

Yet, the numbers of the two combinations since 1988, Everett’s first full season as an NFL quarterback, are quite comparable.

Through three games this season, in fact, they’re almost identical.

Montana has completed 65 of 99 passes for 927 yards and seven touchdowns, with three interceptions. His completion percentage is 65.7 and he has a quarterback rating of 106.8.

Everett has completed 61 of 91 passes for 812 yards and six touchdowns, with three interceptions. Everett has completed 67% of his passes and has a 103.4 rating.

So far this year, Rice has 20 receptions for 449 yards and four touchdowns. Ellard has 22 catches for 408 yards and four touchdowns.

“Montana-Rice is more famous, obviously, because the players are more famous,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “But (Everett-Ellard) is a nice combination.”

Over the last 19 games, in fact, Ellard has more receptions than Rice, 108 to 84; more receiving yardage, 1,822 to 1,755, and more touchdowns, 14 to 13.

Rice has a better yards-per-catch average, 20.1 to 16.9.

In the same 19-game span, Everett has also out-numbered Montana, although the 49er quarterback has started three fewer games and was platooned for a while last season with Steve Young.

Still, the numbers bear comparison. Everett, who has thrown 112 more passes than Montana in the span, has more yardage, 4,776 to 3,908, and more touchdown passes, 37 to 25. Each has completed 61% of his passes.

But did Everett lead his team on a 92-yard drive in the last minute to win the Super Bowl? Easy now, we’re only talking numbers here.

What makes a really great pass combination? Obviously, great talent on both ends. But the great combinations also have almost a sixth sense.

“I think one of the things is the willingness to go to the guy,” Robinson said. “A willingness to say, ‘He’s on my mind, and if the situation’s right I’m going to throw it to him.’ Plus I think there’s a willingness to take more chances to that guy. The quarterback will throw it even if he’s covered.”

Ram tight end Pete Holohan, not a bad receiver himself, played several years with the San Diego Chargers’ famous team of Dan Fouts to Charlie Joiner. He said the comparisons to that team and Montana-Rice are not unfair.

“Henry is as good a receiver as I’ve seen,” Holohan said. “He’s fast, good out of the break, and has excellent hands. Jim has improved since the day I got here. They’ve only been together for three or four years, so that’s going to get better as well.”

Holohan said Ernie Zampese’s offense, which once had Fouts and now has Everett, is based on repetition, timing and trust.

“In this particular offense, Jim lets the ball go, and Dan let the ball go, before (the receivers) were ever out of their break,” he said. “So, that’s trust. You’d better be there.”

Every so often, everything comes together, as it did two weeks ago for Everett and Ellard against Indianapolis. Everett completed 28 of 35 passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns. Ellard had 12 receptions for a career-high 230 yards and three touchdowns.

Everett said the key to those days is having them first in practice. For the last two years, both quarterback and receiver have been free of injuries and the contractual problems that all but washed out Ellard’s 1986 season.

In time, Everett’s throwing to Ellard became as natural as throwing a light switch.

“It’s automatic,” Everett said. “It’s like turning on your TV set and knowing that the TV will come on. It’s one of those types of things. That’s where we’re at.”

Ellard agreed.

“Jim knows exactly what I’m going to do,” he said. “The trust, the confidence, that he knows that I’m going to go down the field and not break off my route short. I’m going to run it the right depth and run it where I’m supposed to run it, so he can just go back and set up and let the ball roll out of his hand.”

Everett and Ellard aren’t ready, though, to jump into the Montana-Rice comparisons. But who knows? Maybe someday Montana-Rice will be compared to them.

“I just know our time is coming, where we’ll be mentioned in the same breath as the Joe Montana--Jerry Rice combination,” Ellard said. “If you can be as effective as they’ve been over the past few years, you know you’re doing something. They’re great, no doubt about that. They kind of set the standard.”

So let the comparisons continue at Candlestick.

Ram Notes

Aaron Cox’s shoulder bruise is not serious. He watched Thursday’s practice in sweats and is listed as probable for Sunday’s game. . . . Coach John Robinson said that Gaston Green continues to be bothered by a hamstring pull, denying concerns that the tailback is being eased out of the limelight now that Cleveland Gary is ready to play. When asked if it was realistic to assume that Green could contribute this season, Robinson replied: “Yes, it is. When he’s well again, he’ll play.”

Flipper Anderson is averaging 34.8 yards on his five receptions this season. Last year, he didn’t catch his second pass until the eighth game of the season. “He had a great preseason and has just continued on,” offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese said. Zampese has been impressed with Anderson’s ability to adjust to the ball, something he didn’t do well as a rookie. “It wasn’t that important if the ball wasn’t thrown right to him,” he said of Anderson’s rookie season. “It wasn’t that important to go ahead, and come back and get it. He’s doing that well now, he really is.” Anderson took advantage of Cox’s hamstring pull in the summer and won the starting job.

San Francisco’s starting safeties, Ronnie Lott and Chet Brooks, are still listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game. Lott has an ankle problem and Brooks a kneecap injury. . . . With his 79 yards receiving last week, Henry Ellard moved into fourth place on the team’s all-time yardage list with 4,769. He’s 628 yards from catching third-place Tom Fears.

JIM EVERETT

YEAR ATT. COMP. PCT. YDS TD 1987 302 162 .536 2,064 10 1988 517 308 .596 3,964 31 1989 91 61 .670 812 6

HENRY ELLARD

YEAR REC. YDS AVG. TD 1987 51 799 15.7 3 1988 86 1,414 16.4 10 1989 22 408 18.5 4

JOE MONTANA

YEAR ATT. COMP. PCT. YDS TD 1987 398 266 .668 3,054 31 1988 397 238 .599 2,981 18 1989 99 65 .656 927 7

JERRY RICE

YEAR REC. YDS AVG. TD 1987 65 1,078 16.6 22 1988 64 1,306 20.4 9 1989 20 459 22.9 4