Levens Out With Leg Fracture

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 15, 1998 / 4:10 AM EDT / CBS Sportsline

Green Bay Packers star running back Dorsey Levens has a broken bone in his right leg, an MRI revealed Monday.

Although the Packers did not give a definitive prognosis as to how long Levens would be sidelined, coach Mike Holmgren said at his Monday morning news conference that one of his chief offensive weapons "will be out a few weeks."

Levens suffered a sprained ankle when he was tackled from behind in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 23-15 victory vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But the MRI revealed along with the sprain, Levens had fractured the bone just below his leg above the ankle.

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Levens signed a five-year deal worth a reported $25 million just days before the start of the season. Despite missing training camp and the entire preseason, Levens was used extensively in the first two regular season games by Holmgren.

Levens appeared rusty in the season-opening win against Detroit when he produced just 59 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. He also had seven catches for 38 yards. Against Tampa Bay, he had only 43 yards on 18 carries, but caught eight passes for 46 yards.

Levens ended his holdout before the season by accepting a one-year tender offer worth $2.74 million before signing the five-year deal.

Dorsey Levens is helped off the field in the fourth quarter against Tampa Bay. (AP)

Levens was second in the NFC with 1,435 rushing yards and also caught 53 passes last season to ern Pro Bowl honors for the first time. He set club marks for most yards from scrimmage (1,805), rushing attempts (329) and most yards rushing in one game (190 against the Dallas Cowboys) en route to the second-best single-season rushing total in team history.

During the preseason, the two-time defending NFC champion Packers struggled to establish a running game without Levens. In its final exhibition game at Miami, Green Bay rushed for just 39 yards on 20 carries. Travis Jervey led the team with just 10 yards on nine carries.

A likely replacement next week at Cincinnati would be Jervey or Raymont Harris, who was inactive the first two games.

In his career, Levens has compiled 3,361 yards -- 2,238 yards rushing in 534 attempts and 1,123 yards on 148 receptions -- averaging 4.9 yards every time he handled the ball. He has been even more productive in the postseason, averaging 5.7 yards for each touch in 11 playoff games.