PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Dickerson Returns but Isn’t Happy

Eric Dickerson rejoined the Indianapolis Colts but left no doubt he would rather be somewhere else. Dickerson was fined and suspended for refusing to practice earlier this month.

“I’m here to do my job, and that’s it,” he said after being away for three weeks.

He said he had asked to be cut or traded after he was suspended. “Yeah, there’s a lot of hard feelings,” he said. “I still feel it was not a good deal. When I was out, there were a lot of things going through my mind, some I don’t want to say. The main thing is I just want to finish out this year. I’ll play hard. . . . I’ll do the best I can.”

Dickerson, who was suspended for six weeks last season for refusing to take a physical examination after an off-season injury, had criticized the Colts’ line for not protecting him and had threatened to retire rather than return to Indianapolis. He came back, however, with a $10-million contract extension and what he said was a renewed enthusiasm.

But he became more and more frustrated as the Colts’ losses mounted this season.

Dickerson suffered a hamstring injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 6--the first game after Rick Venturi replaced the fired Ron Meyer as coach--and sat out the next two games. He returned for one game, but said Venturi’s decision to take him out on some third-down passing situations against Miami was an “insult.” The next day, he walked out of practice.

The Colts suspended him for four games without pay and fined him another game’s pay for conduct detrimental to the team. An NFL mediator later cut the suspension by one game and the fine--which would have amounted to more than $600,000--to $225,000 to be paid over two seasons.

Dickerson has carried 110 times for 347 yards and has scored the only rushing touchdown for the Colts (1-11) this season.