Dickerson Again Gets His Yards : Ram Running Back First in NFL to Gain 1,800 Three Times

The leaves turn, the sun rises, the world spins and Ram tailback Eric Dickerson gains 1,800 yards a season.

Embrace again the laws of nature and football, the ones you so naturally take for granted.

Lost in the recent saga of the Jim Everett hoopla and an emotional division-title loss to San Francisco was a Dickerson run that pushed him over the 1,800-mark for the third time in a four-year career.

He had that many yards? Really?

Really.

“People expect me to get 1,800 yards,” Dickerson said Monday.

Great expectations, if you consider that only eight times in NFL history has a runner gained more than 1,800 yards in a season. Greater still when you consider that Dickerson has done it three times.

He gained 1,808 yards in his rookie season of 1983, 2,105 yards in 1984 and 1,821 this season.

The only season Dickerson missed 1,800 was 1985, the year he sat out the first two games because of a salary dispute. He still finished the season with 1,234 yards.

Others in the 1,800-club are O.J. Simpson (twice), Jim Brown, Earl Campbell and Walter Payton.

Dickerson said Monday that he feels surprisingly well entering Sunday’s wild-card playoff game against the Washington Redskins.

“I’m not physically tired,” he said. “I’m not beat up. I’m in real good shape.”

There’s a feeling around Ram camp that Dickerson is so good that his work is often taken for granted.

“I put a lot of hard work into what I do,” Dickerson said. “People think I’m just a flashy runner, that I just run outside. But I’m tough. I get hit, more than my share. But I get up.”

Dickerson, in fact, has never missed an NFL game because of injury.

“That’s shocking,” Ram Coach John Robinson said. “And no one ever talks about it. He almost never misses a practice. He’s so smooth, sometimes you don’t realize the violence involved.”

Some numbers help tell the story.

Dickerson rushed for more than 100 yards 11 times this season, one shy of his league record of 12 set in 1984.

He also this season broke the following team records:

--Career rushing, 6,968 (broke Lawrence McCutcheon’s record of 6,186.)

--Career touchdowns, 57 (broke Elroy Hirsch’s record of 56.)

--Career rushing attempts, 1,465 (broke McCutcheon’s record of 1,435)

--Season rushing attempts, 404 (broke own record of 390).

--Single-game rushing attempts, 38 (broke Charles White’s record of 36).

Sure, the Rams may still believe in themselves, but what of their stock around the league?

On Monday in Chicago, Bear Coach Mike Ditka said he expects the Washington Redskins to beat the Rams on Sunday, which would set up a Bears-Redskins match-up in Chicago on Jan. 3.

Ditka said his team is preparing for the Redskins this week in practice and expects Washington to be “very tough to beat at home.”

If the Rams were to somehow upset the Redskins, Chicago would instead play the San Francisco 49ers.

Robinson of the Rams isn’t concerned with what others think.

“I think all five teams have got a chance,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to concede. It doesn’t bother us playing in Washington on the road. We’d play in Toledo.”

The Rams will return to a full-uniform workout today for the first time since the week before a home game against Atlanta on Oct. 26.

Robinson met with team captain Nolan Cromwell that week and it was agreed that the team would ease its practice regimen.

But Robinson thinks his team has lost its physical edge in recent weeks and is searching for answers.

“We’re going back to paying attention to all the little things that count,” Robinson said. “A lot of that is running into each other, and it doesn’t hurt as much in pads.”

There wasn’t much grumbling from players about the decision.

“If it’s jocks and high-heels, I don’t care,” Dickerson said. “Whatever it takes.”

Cromwell agreed: “It’s no big thing. The fact that we were without pads was crucial. We were physically tired. We needed a rest. It was a break from the routine.”

Ram Notes

Coach John Robinson said that the Rams will decide today whether to activate wide receiver Ron Brown and tight end Tony Hunter. Brown missed the final two regular season games with a separated shoulder. Hunter has been on injured reserve with a shin injury. “We have to make up our mind to see if they can come back this week,” Robinson said. . . . The Rams finished the season ranked fifth in the NFL in total defense. They had been ranked first for a two-week period during the season. . . . The Rams finished 23rd in total offense and last in the NFL in pass offense. . . . Ram running back Eric Dickerson made an appearance last week on Joan Rivers’ talk show. He said he didn’t fear Rivers’ attacking style of interviewing. “I wasn’t afraid,” Dickerson said. “I’m a football player, not an actor. She didn’t know that much about me. Now if I was (actor) Rob Lowe. I think there’s more gossip about actors than football players.”

THE 1,800-YARD RUSHING CLUB

Player/Team Year TCB Yards Avg. G Eric Dickerson, Rams 1984 379 2,105 5.6 16 O.J. Simpson, Buffalo 1973 332 2,003 6.0 14 Earl Campbell, Houston 1980 373 1,934 5.2 16 Jim Brown, Cleveland 1963 291 1,863 6.4 12 Walter Payton, Chicago 1977 339 1,852 5.5 14 Dickerson , Rams 1986 404 1,821 4.5 16 Simpson, Buffalo 1975 329 1,817 5.5 14 Dickerson, Rams 1983 390 1,808 4.6 16