Media ‘Experts’ Getting Eric’s Goat : Questions on Hamstring, Yardage Turn Rams Star Testy

Eric Dickerson has about had it.

If one reporter isn’t asking him about his holdout, another is asking him about his yardage. Or lack of.

He spent some 45 minutes in the trainer’s room being treated for a sprained ankle after Sunday’s 28-10 win over the New Orleans Saints and the next 15 minutes holding court in front of his dressing stall.

“It’s a little sore right now,” he said of the ankle. “It got rolled on in a pileup.”

But he expects to play against the Giants at the Meadowlands next Sunday, and, after rushing 23 times for 108 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown run, his second best game of the season, he likes the way the Rams’ offense is starting to move.

“We’re getting back to some of the things we do best,” he said, “running right at people.”

Then a reporter asked: “How’s your hamstring?”

Dickerson turned and looked at the reporter and responded: “Where’d this hamstring (question) come from?”

His only hamstring problem had been when the muscle tightened against Atlanta five weeks earlier and he left the game as a precaution.

“Everybody’s experts on Eric Dickerson today,” he said.

Then a TV reporter with a microphone asked why Dickerson is having an off-year in the rushing statistics.

“I can’t answer,” Dickerson said, trying to he patient. “Why does it rain?”

A few feet away quarterback Dieter Brock had been answering similar questions.

“If he has a good game y’all love him,” Dickerson said. “If he has a bad game y’all hate him. I know Dieter’s been going through some tough times. We all have.

“But we’re 8 and 1. No matter what the press says about us, that doesn’t change. I’m still having fun. I’m just not having the year I had last year.”

Dickerson said the pain in his ankle is below the joint rather than higher, which meant it’s not as serious as Coach John Robinson had feared.

“I’ll be ready next week,” Dickerson said.

For the Giants, perhaps. But there also will be a different hoarde of media in New Jersey.

“I’ll tell you what,” Dickerson told the reporters, “let me take the pen, you take my uniform and I’ll get you out on that field. That includes you, too.”

He indicated a woman reporter.

“See if you can run better than I can run,” Dickerson said. “We can even trade salaries. I’ll bet you wouldn’t last once.

“People want you to look great every week. They want you to have 300 yards passing, 200 yards rushing. That’s a must. But they (the opponents) are professionals, too.”