THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Eric Dickerson summed up Jeff Fisher's firing in three words: "It was time."
The Hall of Fame running back and Los Angeles Rams legend recently dragged Fisher into the middle of controversy by detailing the dialogue from a contested phone conversation and voicing his displeasure with the embattled coach on several media platforms the past couple weeks.
Dickerson was asked if his public spat with Fisher might have played a part in Fisher's dismissal.
"I don't know," Dickerson said in a phone conversation. "I have no idea, really. That was not my idea. He called me. I didn't call him. He called me. If Jeff Fisher would've called me and talked to me like a man, not trying to talk down to me, it might've gone different."
Dickerson was enraged by Fisher's calling him to basically deny him sideline passes because some of his public comments made players feel "uncomfortable." Dickerson shot back, and though Fisher supposedly backtracked on his initial comments, Dickerson vowed to never attend a Rams game so long as Fisher was the head coach.
Now the shun has been lifted.
"Yeah, I'll come to games," Dickerson said. "Most definitely, I'll come to football games."
Dickerson might not be able to make it to the final two home games because the first will take place on Christmas Eve and the other on New Year's Day. But he will resume being a physical presence with the Rams moving forward, and it's fair to say he was pleased with the organization's decision to part ways with Fisher, even though Dickerson stressed that it wasn't personal.
"It wasn't like I didn't like Jeff," Dickerson said. "I don't really know Jeff Fisher. I don't. I don't know Jeff Fisher at all. I met him a couple times. He's been a nice guy, cool. But I don't know Jeff's personality; he doesn't know my personality. If he knew my personality, he wouldn't call me like that."
Fisher was fired the day after a 42-14 loss at home to the Atlanta Falcons, one Dickerson called "horrible to watch." It put the Rams at 4-9 after eight defeats in nine games, and it gave Fisher 165 career losses, tied with Dan Reeves for the most in NFL history.
Dickerson would like to see the Rams get a head coach "with a proven record" and likes the thought of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, who helped develop Andrew Luck at Stanford and Alex Smith with the San Francisco 49ers.
"I don't even know Jim Harbaugh personally," Dickerson said, "but he has a proven track record in the National Football League."