D-Day for Rams: Dickerson Returns : Running Back Faces Former Team Today

Eric Dickerson’s last run as a Ram was a 27-yard touchdown scamper on “Monday Night Football” in Cleveland Oct. 26, 1987.

Remember, his hamstrings were supposedly tighter than Ram purse strings that night, and that one second-quarter run--painless as it appeared--was the best he could muster. Dickerson took the rest of the night off, leaving his teammates to the Browns’ barking dog defense and a 30-17 loss.

It’s the way many will remember the greatest rusher in Rams’ history.

See Eric run. See Eric stop. See Eric traded. Five days later, he was gone. Six days later, he was running 47-gap for the Indianapolis Colts, sore legs and all, prompting quarterback Jim Everett to marvel at the wonders of modern medicine and the Rams’ training staff.

Today, Dickerson returns to Anaheim Stadium to face the Rams for the first time since The Trade. Some will remember 7,245 yards and 56 touchdowns in four-plus seasons with the Rams. Others will remember Cleveland.

With Ram fans, you’re never quite sure. It was difficult enough getting them to buy tickets for what should have been the home game of the decade. Will they cheer? Will they boo? Or will they slice apples and break open another pack of Sonoma Jack?

Obviously under orders from their head coaches, both teams have low-keyed their approaches. You wouldn’t want to incite, say, cheering in the stands. But emotions on the field promise to be at peak levels.

Dickerson used to tease his defense about what he would do to them if he ever got the chance. Well, here’s his chance. Dickerson used to whoosh by Ram safety Vince Newsome in practice and throw out his famous stiff-arm, pulling it back at the last second.

Today, he doesn’t have to pull back. Neither does Newsome.

“You know, we couldn’t touch him when he was here,” Newsome said. “If you touched him you might as well pack your bags and go home. He’d run through the line and we’d just get close, and he’d go, ‘Ah, I’d be gone,’ and we’d go ‘Nah, we would have had you.’ But a lot of guys aren’t here that can really remember Eric. Those of us that do, it’ll be more enjoyable for us.”

Newsome, maybe the Rams’ hardest hitter, nursed a sore groin muscle all week, taking more precaution than he might have in a normal week.

“You need all your jets for Eric,” he said.

Linebacker Fred Strickland, who hasn’t played a game this season after undergoing knee surgery Aug. 8, had this game circled on his calendar for his comeback.

“Yeah,” he said. “I wanted to play against him.”

Strickland was one of seven players obtained for Dickerson in the trade. Dickerson changed Strickland’s life.

“If he didn’t get traded, I wonder where I’d be,” Strickland said. “That’s the only thing I think about. I don’t feel any pressure to make the trade look good.”

At one time, the Rams could have never imagined devising a game plan to stop Dickerson. That was the rest of the league’s problem. When Dickerson was here, the great teams shut him down with eight and nine-man fronts, daring the Rams to throw a pass. Remember the 1985 NFC championship game against Chicago?

“I look more at how other teams stopped him when he was here,” linebacker Mel Owens said. “Washington, Chicago, the teams that shut him down were the teams that penetrated. But Eric was the weapon. We had to fire that weapon all the time.”

That isn’t the case any more in Indianapolis, where the Colts have grown more comfortable with their passing game and quarterback Chris Chandler. The Colts at times use four wide receiver-sets and the run-and-shoot offense to spread the field.

In other words, you can’t pretend to stop Dickerson with schemes others used when he was running for the Rams.

“I think it would just be devastating to look at this game and say if you stop Eric Dickerson, you win,” Rams defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur said. “If there are enough big plays in other places, you don’t win.”

Shurmur has done his best to convince his unit of that fact, though execution of that plan may be more difficult outside the locker room.

Dickerson is also curious.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how they try to defense us,” he said. “Because we have very good receivers outside. If they put all their time into stopping me, we’ll hurt them somewhere else.”

Dickerson says he’s not out for vengeance. It might be different if John Shaw were playing free safety.

“Everyone asks me the same thing: Would you like to have 200 yards rushing?” he said. “That would be great. But my thing is to win. I don’t care if I don’t have but 50 yards rushing. If we win, it makes no difference to me.”

Think those hamstrings will tighten up today?

Ram Notes

Tony Slaton starts again at right guard for Duval Love, who has yet to reclaim his position after a lengthy summer holdout. Flipper Anderson will start again at wide receiver, though Coach John Robinson says Aaron Cox will play more. . . . The Rams’ inactive players for today will probably be injured linebacker Larry Kelm and offensive lineman Kurt Becker. . . . Eric Dickerson has 53 career 100-yard games, 15 with the Colts. He is one 100-yard game shy of tying Lydell Mitchell’s club record. The Rams were 27-11 when Dickerson rushed for more than 100, the Colts are 9-6.