Eric Dickerson is LA Rams royalty. He’s the greatest Los Angeles Rams player in the history of the franchise. Hearing that he was offered “nosebleed” seats for the Super Bowl made me mad. I caught up with Dickerson and speaking with him was like going through a Rams history book.
He was the second overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft. There was some drama involved with that. He played a lot of games at the LA Coliseum pictured above.
“I was possibly going 1, 2, or 3,” Dickerson remembered. “I didn’t know who John Elway was. I didn’t hear about him until our draft year. The Oilers had the second pick. I didn’t want to go because they had Earl Campbell. I wanted to go to the Rams. I loved their uniforms as much as SMU
“The Rams came to the SMU campus. They said they were going to draft me, and they had a plane ticket for me. We will pick you up by 9 AM. My boy drove me.”
The mystery was gone, and a legend was about to be born. He is still 10th all-time in rushing.
“I’m very proud of this. A lot of times, I don’t get the credit for different reasons. One thing you just said. I made it look easy. I heard that all the time,” Dickerson stated. “They vilified me back in the day for holding out. I never thought about records. For me, I always wanted to be great. That was my thing. That’s how I was brought up. That’s how I was taught.”
“Being top 10 or top 20 was great. The most important thing was my team. I didn’t want to let them down,” he revealed. “I didn’t miss my first game until my seventh year. And that was a hamstring injury. I ran the ball a lot.
“My rookie rushing record. I always said that one is going to last the longest. Maybe someone can get the 2,105 (still the single season rushing record) The 1,808 yards, 20 touchdowns, that’s going to be hard to catch. I had no idea I would be carrying the ball that much.
Then he told me something I had never heard before.
“When I came to the team, I was on the third team. Coach John Robinson changed the offense a few weeks before the season began. We went from a two-back offense to a one-back offense,” Dickerson told me exclusively. “He saw me do this in a preseason game. And I liked it. They liked it, and they switched it. That’s how I got the starting nod. It’s an honor just to play pro football. Sometimes I can’t believe I played. I’m thankful that I played.”
This guy is prideful. He should be treated with more respect by the franchise. Make this right. If he sits at home, I can’t blame him in the least.
