Pro Football / Bob Oates : Imagine How Good Rams Would Be If They Had Dickerson

After the first 3 weeks of a new season, there are only 3 undefeated teams in pro football, 3 somewhat surprising teams--the Buffalo Bills, the Cincinnati Bengals and the Rams.

And 1 of these would be really formidable, no doubt, if it had 1 more player. The Rams are that team. Eric Dickerson is the player.

The way the Rams moved the ball against the Raiders Sunday--and the way Dickerson ran it Monday night, when he had 104 yards before halftime--raised visions of what might have been if the Rams still had Dickerson in the backfield.

For as a running-game force, the leader, Coach John Robinson, and the weapon, Dickerson, are incomparable.

Both at USC and in the pros, the record suggests that Robinson is the most effective coach of rushing and blocking in his time.

His knowledge of the running game, indeed, is such that since the Dickerson trade, his team has remained powerful on the ground with journeyman backs who were considered failures elsewhere in the National Football League, Charles White and Greg Bell.

At Indianapolis, meanwhile, Dickerson remains the NFL’s best running back while using, in some instances, Robinson-designed plays that he brought with him from the Rams.

The Colts lost in Cleveland Monday night, 23-17, when they strangely quit handing off to Dickerson in the second quarter. They quit at the worst possible place, the Cleveland 24-yard line, after rookie quarterback Chris Chandler had gained 53 yards with a long pass on third and 12.

Ignoring the percentages, the Colts grounded Dickerson there and called on Chandler for 2 incompletes and an interception. Even worse, Indianapolis in the second half inexplicably grounded him again except for a few draw plays.

In their days together at Anaheim, Robinson typically went back to Dickerson after a lucky pass. If Dickerson were held to no gain, he went back to him again. Even on third and 7 or 8, he often went to Dickerson again.

That is a percentage plan when the quarterback position is weak, as it is at Indianapolis today, and as it was throughout the Dickerson years at Anaheim.

With Jim Everett at quarterback, another plan is possible. With Everett and Dickerson in the same lineup, this would have been some team.

After nearly 2 decades of mostly 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) kickoffs for its Monday night games, ABC moved its starting time to 5 p.m. this month, meaning that many Los Angeles football fans will be on the freeways Monday for much of the Raiders’ game in Denver.

ABC is scheduled to revertto 6 p.m. starts after the Raider-Bronco game.

The best prime-time team in football in other years, the Raiders are 25-5-1 on Mondays. The Broncos are 9-10-1, although, like quarterback John Elway, they are all but unbeatable at Mile High Stadium. There, their Monday record is 8-1-1.

For both teams, it’s a critical game for at least superstitious reasons. There hasn’t been a Raider-Bronco series split since the 1960s. Each year, 1 team or the other customarily wins both times. In 1973, 1 game ended in a draw, and in 1982, a strike year, they only played once, but otherwise, mysteriously, since 1970, there have been 16 sweeps.

Coach Bill Walsh of the 49ers said that a new star may have evolved Sunday when a second-year passer, Chris Miller, led the Atlanta Falcons to their stunning 34-17 upset in San Francisco.

Miller’s coach, Marion Campbell, thought so, too, after the young quarterback from Eugene, Ore., completed 10 of 12 passes for 135 yards in the Falcons’ 21-point second quarter en route to a 24-3 lead.

“Chris has some of the same qualities as (49er quarterback Joe) Montana,” Campbell said. “He’s a gym rat and can do it all.”

Atlanta cornerback Scott Chase wondered if, this year, a Montana comparison is all that meaningful. After the 49er veteran had thrown 3 interceptions, Case said:

“I can’t tell you what it was, but he didn’t play a Joe Montana type of game.”

The Falcons expected to see the alternate San Francisco quarterback, Steve Young, in the second half, and Walsh said the idea crossed his mind.

But Walsh added: “I didn’t see any real possibility of Steve doing some of the things he does well in this particular game. I had hoped that we had established a standard of play that would carry us through these kinds of games.”

In other words, the 49ers had hoped that they could take Atlanta in stride while getting ready for this week’s seemingly more difficult opponent, the Seattle Seahawks, at the Kingdome.

The problem is that in the parity of the 1980s, it is anything but simple to win the breathers while focusing on tougher matches. The favored 49ers in recent years have failed several simple tests, against Philadelphia in 1983, against Pittsburgh in 1984--their only loss that season--and against Minnesota in 1985.

The Seahawks, presumably also looking ahead, were also upset Sunday when they ran into Babe Laufenberg in San Diego.

To win consistently these days, even the NFL’s best teams have to play 1 game at a time, which is why the coaches talk about that so often.

The talented Minnesota Vikings, who don’t always perform as well as they could and should, knew Sunday that, this time, they had better do so. Their opponent was the Chicago Bears, who could have made some trouble in the NFC Central this year if they had won. Accordingly, the Vikings took charge, 31-7.

The Bears couldn’t handle the NFL’s best defensive team as coached by Floyd Peters and as led on the field by linemen Keith Millard and Chris Doleman.

“They stunted a lot, threw more blitzes (than the Bears expected) and put pressure on us,” Bear Coach Mike Ditka said.

Long before the end, Ditka, seeking to preserve quarterback Jim McMahon for use against weaker defenses, pulled him.

“I’m sure Jim could have kept playing, he’s a tough kid,” Ditka said. “But I don’t know if winning a football game is worth busting up my quarterback.”

In the same division with Green Bay, Tampa Bay and Detroit, that was, as Doleman said, good thinking.

Quote Dept.:

--Joe Montana, 49er quarterback, who has been in the league since Falcon quarterback Chris Miller was in high school: “The approach we want to take to (losing to Atlanta) is that it was a learning kind of thing.”

--Joe Walton, New York Jets coach, after interceptions by rookies John Booty and Erik McMillan helped fuel a 45-3 win over the Houston Oilers: “Some people say young players can’t win, but I think they can. We haven’t allowed a touchdown in two weeks.”

--Jerry Glanville, Oiler coach: “Somebody is going to pay for this hanging.”

--Marion Campbell, Falcon coach, on the NFL’s No. 1 draft choice this year, linebacker Aundray Bruce: “He’s getting better every week.”

--Eric Thomas, Cincinnati Bengals cornerback, after intercepting a pass thrown by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Bubby Brister: “I welcome people throwing the ball at me, because with my speed and ability, I can make a play on anybody.”