29 - Eric Dickerson
by ClanRam Writer - - Oscar F Lopez

As a Rams Diehard, when I sit around and chat with my friends about great players. The one player that I can sound off with always immediately is Eric Dickerson. Eric Dickerson in my eyes, had not only rare speed and quickness but excellent vision and instincts. Eric could see the seams and cut against the grain instantly.

When people begin to bash the Rams, I enjoy sounding off with our rich NFL history of various players that made an impact to the annals of the NFL history books. Look in those books and you will see Eric Dickerson's name above or beside other NFL legends.

When we talk about Eric Dickerson, we come up with the beginning sentence of nobody else has ever had, then the stats stand out clearly to show how great this man was. Let's just go with the most yards in a season. Remember the number 2,105 YARDS!

No other NFL running back to date has equaled this feat. Name them, not Emmitt Smith, Marcus Allen, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas, Terrell Davis, Walter Payton, or Franco Harris. The only thing that would have made Eric Dickerson the greatest, was winning a Super Bowl.

Eric was six foot three and 225 pounds, with awesome speed. He was a graceful runner who could go inside or turn the corner like O.J. Simpson. Eric's style unfortunately led to his fumbling in crucial playoff games( 78 fumbles career). Dickerson might have broken all the records if he'd stayed a Ram, where coach John Robinson loved him. Eric gained 1,800 yards or more in three of his first four seasons. We can compare in how many games it took, but the bottom line is that even in a 16 game season it was remarkable. Eric reached the 10,000yards in 91 games, which he was 7 games faster than the great Jim Brown or anyone else for that matter.

Some Diehards will only remember Eric's second renegotiation in three years, which lead to the trade to the Colts. Eric " Dollarsign" was his given name from the Diehard Rams fans in Los Angeles. As a Diehard this Hall of Famer will always be remembered for what he did on the field. I truly enjoyed his on field performances. And the chat with friends, well they cannot debate this one unless someone else breaks the mark.
To quote Eric himself " They can say what they want to say, but I've got the stats to back it up." Eric not only left us with records and stats , but he left all Rams fans with great memories.

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