Chargers Hope to Contain Brooding Dickerson

Turns out the big guy in Indianapolis doesn’t talk either.

Unless, of course, it’s on national television, where Colt running back Eric Dickerson recently told talk show host Arsenio Hall he wasn’t sure he wanted to play past the 1990 season.

The other “big guy” is Charger quarterback Jim McMahon, who hasn’t talked with Charger beat reporters for weeks.

Dickerson, whose Colts (5-6) play the Chargers (4-7) at the Hoosier Dome today, has been unhappy with his offensive line this year. Yet he needs just 97 yards against the Chargers to become the first player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards or more in seven consecutive NFL seasons.

But the newspaper man he became most upset with is his own coach, Ron Meyer, who writes a weekly guest column for the Indianapolis News.

The background: On Nov. 5, Dickerson missed the Miami-Colts game, a 19-13 Indianapolis loss. It was the first game he had missed with an injury in his seven-year NFL career.

The week before, Dickerson told reporters of his unhappiness with the performance of the rest of the team and said he would just be happy to take his paychecks. He also said he wasn’t going to “name names” of the teammates he thought were shirkers.

Meyer was furious with Dickerson’s remarks and said so in his column. “I told him (Dickerson) to shut his mouth,” Meyer wrote.

Meyer later said that’s not what he really said to Dickerson. But Dickerson still refuses to speak to reporters.

It reached the height of absurdity before the Nov. 12 game against Buffalo, when Dickerson’s hamstring was still ailing.

Veteran Colt broadcaster Bob Lamey approached Dickerson in the locker room brandishing a green flag, a yellow flag and a red flag. He asked Dickerson to grab the appropriate flag regarding his playing status against Buffalo.

Dickerson eagerly grabbed the green flag, signifying he expected to play against the Bills. But when Lamey asked him if he would say as much on tape, Dickerson said, “Nope.”

Today’s game marks the first return of Charger outside linebacker Leslie O’Neal to the Hoosier Dome since the 13th game of the 1986 season, his rookie year.

O’Neal entered that game leading the Chargers in tackles and sacks. He left with a badly damaged knee that kept him from playing for nearly 22 months.

During O’Neal’s lengthy rehabilitation he was privately criticized on several occasions by members of the Chargers’ organization. Part of their problem was an impatience that stemmed from O’Neal’s refusal to use team physicians.

Instead, O’Neal worked with South Lake Tahoe orthopedist Richard Steadman. Steadman has treated many members of the United States Olympic ski team.

O’Neal’s insistence on Steadman has finally paid off. He is leading the AFC in sacks with 10.5 and is a leading candidate this season to play in his first Pro Bowl.

O’Neal is not unaware that he is returning to the site of the game that almost ended his career. “If I come out and play a good game, it will be just like reliving what happened,” he says. “But this time I will be going in the opposite direction.”

O’Neal’s return to full strength has also fostered a return of confidence, which was one of the reasons he was such a precocious rookie in 1986.

“I think Leslie has the same type of abilities as a Lawrence Taylor,” says Charger Coach Dan Henning, comparing O’Neal with the Giants’ perennial Pro Bowl linebacker.

Even though the Chargers list O’Neal as an outside linebacker, he is likely to play any position. The unpredictability of the Chargers’ defense is what concerns Colt quarterback Jack Trudeau.

“I think the Chargers will be the best defensive team we have faced all year,” Trudeau said. “They bring people (on the pass rush) from every position.”

That is not empty praise. The Charger defense is the only one in the league that has not allowed more than 20 points in any of its past nine games.

During that period the Charger defense has allowed an average of 14.55 points. The Colt defense has also played well during that period, allowing an average of 15.66 points.

Former Charger linebacker Chip Banks says he expects to have a “little bit of an edge” against his ex-teammates today because, having practiced against them, he knows many of their techniques.

But actually Banks hasn’t practiced against any of the Chargers’ offensive line starters except guard Broderick Thompson. All the others have joined the team since Banks played his last game as a Charger in December of 1987.

Banks credits much of his success since joining the Colts Oct. 18--in five games, he has 23 tackles, one sack, five quarterback pressures and one interception--to the support he has gotten from Meyer. “He makes me feel part of the organization as a person as well as a player,” Banks says. “They have concern for me. I want to do right.”

Banks is a two-time drug offender. One more positive drug test and he will be banned for life by the NFL.