Rams, Raiders and Eric : Pro football: Dickerson’s return to Anaheim Stadium is a sideshow to tonight’s exhibition game.

Eric Dickerson, the running back who has already changed the fortunes and wrung the hearts of two NFL franchises, pops up again at Anaheim Stadium tonight with his third, this time wearing more familiar shades of silver and black.

He has been back before, as an Indianapolis Colt during the 1989 regular season, two years after the Rams traded him in an ugly contract dispute.

But with a nice sense of drama, the Raiders and the Rams have managed to patch their exhibition season difficulties just in time for Dickerson to make his Southland debut as a Raider in Ram Land, a place he did not leave peacefully almost five years ago. It is both teams’ second exhibition game of the year.

Dickerson, fresh from a controversy-filled Colt career, is arriving quietly.

“It’s just another game,” he said Friday. “I feel real good. I don’t like exhibition games anyway, I don’t care for them.

“Most of the guys I know over there are gone--just (Jackie) Slater, (Henry) Ellard and Kevin Greene.”

Eleven current Rams played with Dickerson, but those three are the ones he knows the best.

“Seems like a very long time ago when I was there,” he said.

The Rams have gone through two or three major reconstructions since Dickerson went away, and even those who played with him say that memories of him as a Ram are almost gone.

It is no longer strange to see Dickerson, who gained 7,245 yards as a Ram, standing on the opposite sideline.

“It’s good to see him back here because I know he’s happy being in Southern California,” said Ram tackle Slater, one of Dickerson’s closest friends when they were teammates. “He likes living in the area. I’m happy for him.

“As far as him being on another team, I’d kind of gotten used to it since he left here, playing in different colors. I just like to see him successful personally, because he’s a good friend of mine.”

Even more, there’s a sense among those who saw him fight the Rams’ management tooth and nail that he belongs with the Raiders, the ultimate rebel team.

Ram linebacker Greene said that when Dickerson was traded by the Colts to the Raiders during this year’s draft, his first thought was that it was a natural match.

“The mystique,” Greene said, “being rebellious. Yeah, sure he fits there. It’s good to see him there.”

Raider Coach Art Shell said Dickerson will get only a handful of carries against the Rams, probably fewer than 10. He carried six times for 22 yards last week in the Raiders’ 24-10 exhibition loss to the 49ers in San Francisco.

Marcus Allen will sit out the game because of a foot injury so Dickerson will share time with Nick Bell, a player with vast potential. But the main focus in this first exhibition matchup between these teams since the Raiders moved from Oakland in 1982 will be on Dickerson.

For Ram Coach Chuck Knox and all his former assistants on the Seattle Seahawks, the Raiders are a familiar foe, and Dickerson is merely one more piece of an already dangerous puzzle.

“Eric Dickerson has been a hell of a running back for a long time, OK?” said Ram and former Seahawk running backs coach Chick Harris. “He still has talent, he still has speed. The Raiders are a good football team, and it could give him more opportunities.”

Any action, however limited, from Eric the Raider should be enough to contrast sharply with the Rams’ desperate search for a running back who can even slightly resemble Dickerson at his best.

Cleveland Gary, drafted in 1989 with a pick acquired in the Dickerson trade, is the nominal starter, but he has been bothered by a hamstring problem for most of training camp and could miss his second consecutive exhibition tonight.

Robert Delpino, the starting fullback, would normally step in at tailback for Gary, but he has a groin injury and has missed a week of practice.

The starters tonight probably will be second-year player David Lang and rookie Tim Lester, which should be indication enough that the Rams have not yet found what they are looking for at running back.

Already, there seems to be an underlying frustration among Knox and his staff with all the minor injuries that have prevented their backs from practicing.

In last week’s 21-7 victory over the Seahawks in Seattle to open the exhibition season, the Ram running backs gained only 81 yards in 34 carries, hardly the stuff of Ground Chuck legend.

“Due time comes, and people have to step up and be counted so we can make our choices,” Harris said. “It’s a mix right now. It’s really cloudy, and we just hope that some things surface here.

“This game is a contact sport, there are some things that happen. But there’s going to be a time when people cinch it up and go. The day of reckoning is soon before us, and we have to make up our mind.”

While the Rams try to sort out their running back situation, the Raiders’ situation at quarterback is one that continues to be sifted through.

Jay Schroeder remains the starter and will play the first half tonight. Todd Marinovich will play the second half.

For the Raiders, with their knowledge of what Knox did in Seattle, tonight’s game should be a nice barometer.

“It’s good to work against Chuck’s system,” Shell said. “They still use some of the same things they used up in Seattle--the defense, the running game, the blocking combinations . . . “

Coincidentally, neither the Raiders’ Chester McGlockton nor the Rams’ Sean Gilbert, both defensive tackles taken in the first round of this year’s draft, will play tonight. McGlockton has a sprained foot, Gilbert an injured ankle.

Times staff writer Steve Springer contributed to this story.

TONIGHT’S EXHIBITION

Opponents: Raiders vs. Rams

Site: Anaheim Stadium

Time: 7 p.m.

Records: Rams 1-0, Raiders 0-1

Radio: KMPC (710), KFI (640)

TV: Channel 9