Ram Notebook : Ex-Teammates Salute Dickerson
A crowd of Rams mobbed Eric Dickerson at midfield immediately after Sunday’s game, offering their hands for high-fives and slapping the Colt running back on the back.
If there are any ill feelings between the former Ram running back and his former teammates, it wasn’t evident on this afternoon.
Some Ram defenders said they even jokingly asked Dickerson to “stop running so hard” during the bgame. When someone pointed out the apparent lack of animosity to John Robinson, the Ram coach shook his head.
“Eric came back and played against all his friends today,” he said, obviously annoyed. “What did you expect?”
Safety Vince Newsome said that most of the Rams and Dickerson remain on friendly terms.
“The guys who know Eric from the past . . . it’s like when you’re on the field, you’re playing the game and it’s business, and Eric knows it’s business,” Newsome said. “But when it’s over, we’re still friends from the past and it will always be that way.”
Dickerson, who gained 116 yards in 21 carries and had five receptions for 45 yards, said he was relieved when the final gun sounded.
“Everybody was watching me,” he said. “I wanted to win, but I’m glad it’s over.”
The fans littered the stadium with anti-Dickerson propaganda, but the Rams had nothing but praise for the Colt running back.
“It’s tough to play against a player like Eric Dickerson,” safety Michael Stewart said. “We just had to maintain our toughness against his talent because we know he can bust one at any time. We definitely respect him. He’s the best in the NFL.”
Defensive tackle Doug Reed: “We had to make sure we stayed square. You can’t move laterally against him. You just stay in front of him and make him stop, or it’s all over. He’s the best back in the NFL. We know. We had him.”
Newsome: “There was always curiosity. You always wondered what it would be like to tackle Eric Dickerson. And now we got a chance. We were always telling each other he could break one any minute, and we were just glad we contained him--if you want to call what we did contain.”
Robinson: “Eric Dickerson is the best runner I’ve ever seen. He has great speed and runs as hard as anyone. And they’re using him well. He had four catches for first downs.”
Making the grade: Reed gave the Rams a B-minus for Sunday’s performance.
“We played pretty well overall, but there’s room to get better. We just need to play at a higher level. We need to be a little more focused.”
Colt quarterback Chris Chandler didn’t come up with a letter grade, but he thought the Indianapolis offense accomplished many of its goals.
“I don’t think we had a bad day,” he said. “Overall, the offense played well. I think we played better today than last week (a 30-24 loss to San Francisco). But a few key downs really cost us.”
A for effort dept.: Chandler certainly would have given high marks to Kevin Greene if he had to fill out the Ram linebacker’s report card for this game.
“He hit me hard, but he didn’t sack me,” Chandler said. “The guy is relentless. He seems like he never gets tired.”
Ram wide receiver Henry Ellard experienced a brief scare after a reception in the third quarter of Sunday’s game.
“They just twisted me all up as I went down toward the ground,” he said. “I just felt my ankle being popped back; even my knee was almost hyper-extended. Both ankles were twisted. I don’t know how it happened, but I know when I rolled up, everything just started hurting.”
Ellard left the game briefly, but returned in plenty of time to resume his assault on the Colt secondary.
How has the Ram offense treated Ellard since the Dickerson trade in late 1987? Consider:
Ellard caught 51 passes in 1987 for 799 yards. Last year, he caught 86 passes for 1,414 yards. This season, he already has 17 receptions for 329 yards.
“We had a big weapon with Eric,” Ellard said, “and we tried to take advantage of that situation by not throwing the ball all the time. We had a different quarterback each and every year, and it’s kind of hard to get the passing attack going.”
Colt receiver Clarence Verdin had an interesting game. He caught two passes: one for a single yard and the other for 82 yards and a touchdown.
The 82-yarder came at the start of the second quarter, when he ran past three-time Pro Bowl selection Jerry Gray.
“When it’s man-on-man, there aren’t too many people in the league who can run with me,” Verdin said. “I can name one, Darrell Green (of the Washington Redskins).”
Green is generally regarded as the league’s fastest player.
