Dickerson Passes Bad News for Croudip : Be It As a Ram or Falcon, Tosses Help Other Side

David Croudip has seen the last two passes thrown by Eric Dickerson. He is yet to see one turn out right for his side.

Croudip was a rookie free agent with the Rams when Dickerson threw a waffling interception against the Dallas Cowboys in the Monday night opener of 1984. Sunday, he was playing cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons when Dickerson brought his arm out of mothballs to throw a 15-yard pass to tight end David Hill--the only offensive touchdown in the Rams’ 14-7 victory.

Were Croudip and the Falcons surprised? Do elephants fly?

“They warned us,” Croudip said. “We’d been practicing (against) it.”

Falcon running back Sylvester Stamps impersonated Dickerson in practice last week, throwing passes off sweeps, just as Dickerson did Sunday.

“But in the heat of battle, when you see Dickerson with the ball, naturally you want to run up there,” Croudip said. “I just ran up there a little too fast.”

Croudip’s reaction was natural. Dickerson is the National Football League’s leading rusher and was off to a fair day running the football, with 55 yards en route to 170 for the game. Besides, nobody with the Rams throws the ball much.

Croudip, released by the Rams in 1985, was playing only because veteran Bobby Butler broke a leg in last week’s tie with the San Francisco 49ers. Later in the game, he intercepted a Steve Dils pass to stop a Ram drive, then forced the fumble by Michael Young that James Britt returned 65 yards for the Falcons’ only touchdown.

“I’ve had pretty good games against them,” Croudip said. “I have pretty good friends on the team still.”

But he’ll be tossing and turning about Dickerson’s pass to Hill.

“I read my key right, (but) I should have seen the color, that blue, when he (Hill) went underneath. When I saw it, it was too late, and when I saw Dickerson pull it up I thought, ‘Oh.’ I still thought I could get out there with him and tip it.”

If Croudip were taller than 5-feet 7-inches, he might have at that. But the ball, showing more hang time than Dale Hatcher’s punts, floated over his fingertips to Hill in the back of the end zone.

Hill, who has caught only four passes this season, said of Dickerson’s lob: “I’d give it a solid eight, only because it was a touchdown and he’s my buddy. If I gave it anything less he doesn’t throw the ball to me.”

Croudip and Hill didn’t exchange words.

“I just got off the field,” Croudip said. “I fouled up.”

Dickerson, whose only other pass, in 1983, was for one yard, also to Hill, was surprised to hear that the Falcons were supposedly prepared for him to pass.

“How’d they know about that play?” he said. “We’ve never thrown that play. Never.”

This one was called “Gap Sweep Pass Right.”

Dickerson said Croudip wasn’t the victim as much as free safety Bret Clark was.

“I was just looking for the free safety. He bit on it. He thought it was a run. I saw him. He was covering the middle.”

Said Britt: “They did a good job of disguising the play. The tight end went way down inside as if he was blocking, then he just popped back out there behind our guys before we could cover him.”

The result left Dickerson only one behind Steve Bartkowski in touchdown passes this season.

“We’ve worked on that all season,” he said. “The pass didn’t look pretty. It took a while for it to come down, but it was effective. I was very proud of myself.”