Dorsey Levens

Dorsey Levens had played in big games before becoming a Green Bay legend in Sunday's NFC championship game. There was the New York State basketball championship game his senior year in high school. Levens caught a teammate's airball and hit a follow shot to tie the game near the end of regulation. Then he had a chance to give Nottingham High the lead with a free throw. "I missed," Levens said. "The game went into overtime and we lost. I cried. " And then there was that other game his senior year.

Three months ago, when training camp opened for the Eagles at Lehigh University, Dorsey Levens was an unemployed running back living in Atlanta. Two months ago, after serving as the Eagles' workhorse in the team's preseason finale against the New York Jets, Levens found himself unemployed again, a victim of coach Andy Reid's final cut. A month ago, after the Eagles brought him back for the second time this year before the second game of the season, he had one carry for 1 yard in two games.

There may be two games on Monday night, but there is only one Monday Night Football. Because of last night's World Series game in Miami, the Chicago Bears at Miami Dolphins game was switched to tonight. But the only game on the tube is Green Bay at New England (Channel 6, 9 p.m.) in a rematch of last season's Super Bowl. The Packers (5-2), who have had trouble stopping the run, should get a big boost in that area from 350-pound nose tackle Gilbert Brown, who is returning from a knee injury.

By agreeing to terms with running back Dorsey Levens, the New York Giants moved closer to shedding Ron Dayne. Levens agreed on a 3-year contract, and agent Hadley Engelhard said the former Eagle planned to visit the Giants on Monday and sign the contract. Engelhard refused to say how much the contract was worth, but sources close to the team said Levens will receive a $300,000 signing bonus and make the veterans' minimum, which would make the total package worth $2.5 million.

The purge of Super Bowl veterans is about to begin in Green Bay, where the Packers are preparing to waive running back Dorsey Levens. The team still is hopeful, however, that it can renegotiate Antonio Freeman's contract to keep Brett Favre's favorite receiver in town. Levens is due $2.5 million in compensation next season - more than starter Ahman Green will make - beginning with a $500,000 roster bonus on March 1. "We can't pay that, having a player in front of him making less," said Andrew Brandt, the team's chief negotiator.

The Green Bay Packers are interested in signing troubled running back Lawrence Phillips as a backup to Dorsey Levens, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Last week, Phillips rushed for 177 yards and spurred the greatest comeback in NFL Europe history by leading the Barcelona Dragons to a 42-35 victory over Scotland after they trailed, 28-3. The winning touchdown was a 73-yard romp by Phillips. The former Nebraska running back, who also played in St. Louis and Miami before being waived by both teams, already has set NFL Europe season records in rushing yards and touchdowns.

It's bad news for fantasy football devotees and running backs with incentive clauses. So far, it's been good news for the Eagles' offense. Coach Andy Reid has treated his three halfbacks as interchangeable parts, moving them on and off the field and in and out of the backfield. Duce Staley can line up as a tailback, a fullback or a wide receiver. Brian Westbrook is a threat to run or catch the ball. Dorsey Levens comes in as a single back when the Eagles are in multiple-receiver sets.

Brian Westbrook has a rib injury that will likely keep the Eagles' top running back from playing Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and possibly the following week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team source said yesterday. The source said that the injury, described as an avulsion fracture, does not require surgery and the exact date of Westbrook's return will depend on his level of pain tolerance. Westbrook suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Browns in Cleveland when he landed on top of the football after receiving a jarring hit from defensive end Kenard Lang.

When Andy Reid was promoted from Green Bay Packers tight ends coach to Mike Holmgren's quarterbacks coach in 1997, Brett Favre almost couldn't believe his ears. "I was like, 'Oh, my goodness, a former offensive lineman. What is he gonna do to teach me? How is he gonna help me?' " Favre said. There was not a more skeptical player in the Packers' locker room. Favre was more than worried. But his concern didn't last long. "It was totally different than what I thought it was going to be," he said.

Dorsey Levens, the burly running back who played the first eight seasons of his NFL career with the Green Bay Packers, embarrassed his old team in a big way last night at Veterans Stadium, giving Eagles fans hope, delight, and a new cause for cheer, even if he did it in an exhibition game. Levens was signed by the Eagles this season as insurance for a rushing attack that lost Correll Buckhalter to a knee injury in late April at minicamp. The fitness, quickness and durability of Duce Staley also remains somewhat in doubt, although the Eagles' gutsy running back, who rushed for 1,273 yards three seasons ago, insists he is ready to roll.

Ahman Green remembers not so long ago that playing for the Green Bay Packers meant contending for a playoff berth every year. Now, the Packers find themselves in a much different situation, trying to travel that unsettled road back to respectability with a young and promising but still mistake-prone team. These Packers, who visit the Eagles on Monday night, don't begin to resemble the perennial playoff participants of Green's earlier years. After being traded before the 2000 season from Seattle, where he played sparingly for two years, Green registered 1,000-yard rushing seasons in his first five years in Green Bay. During his second season in Green Bay, in 2001, the Packers began a string of four consecutive playoff appearances.

Dorsey Levens had some advice for Donovan McNabb about insomnia before the Super Bowl. McNabb said Levens told him, " 'Don't be afraid if you can't get any sleep [tonight], because you're just so fired up for the game, sometimes you can't control it.' " For players, the night before the Super Bowl is often sleepless - whether it's due to nerves or partying. Levens knows about both from his days with the Green Bay Packers, who played in Super Bowls XXXI and XXXII. Seven Eagles (Mike Bartrum, Jevon Kearse, Levens, Jon Ritchie, Jon Runyan, Jeff Thomason and Nate Wayne)

If anyone can relate to Terrell Owens' longing to play in the Super Bowl - and his suffering - it is Eagles running back Dorsey Levens. In the 1996 season, Levens, then with the Green Bay Packers, played on the NFL's biggest stage against the same team the Eagles will face Feb. 6 in Jacksonville, Fla., the New England Patriots. A year after the Packers toppled the Patriots, 35-21, in that game, Levens returned to the Super Bowl, but Green Bay lost to the Denver Broncos, 31-24. In 1998, Levens experienced the same injury that has sidelined Owens, the Eagles' flashy receiver.

Things changed for the Eagles 10 days ago when Terrell Owens limped off the field and out of their offensive scheme. Suddenly, Todd Pinkston was their No. 1 receiver, Freddie Mitchell was a starter, Greg Lewis was the third receiver and Billy McMullen became a guy who might actually line up at wide receiver once in a while. If those developments didn't exactly raise your holiday hopes and spirits for the upcoming postseason, it's understandable. With Owens out until at least the Super Bowl and, more likely, next season, conventional wisdom tells us that the Eagles' title hopes now hinge greatly on running back Brian Westbrook, who has become far too valuable to risk injury in the meaningless portion of this regular season.

Andy Reid was just moving up the coaching ladder in Green Bay when he met Reggie White and saw the widespread influence he had on fans, teammates and opponents. After the Eagles landed in St. Louis for tonight's game against the Rams, Reid remembered White, the player he coached from 1993 to '98. White, who also played with the Eagles and the Carolina Panthers, died yesterday at the age of 43, reportedly from sleep apnea. An autopsy will be performed later this week to determine an exact cause.

Dorsey Levens feels his age more often in the Eagles locker room than on the football field. The 34-year-old Levens is the second-oldest running back in the NFL, behind the Arizona Cardinals' Emmitt Smith. Keeping up with his younger teammates is no problem, he said, except when it comes to what's hot on the music scene. After his 11th season, and second stint with the Eagles, Levens likely will call it quits after this year. He hopes to end with a Super Bowl ring to wear with the one he earned with the Packers in 1996-97.

Three months ago, when training camp opened for the Eagles at Lehigh University, Dorsey Levens was an unemployed running back living in Atlanta. Two months ago, after serving as the Eagles' workhorse in the team's preseason finale against the New York Jets, Levens found himself unemployed again, a victim of coach Andy Reid's final cut. A month ago, after the Eagles brought him back for the second time this year before the second game of the season, he had one carry for 1 yard in two games.

Brian Westbrook has a rib injury that will likely keep the Eagles' top running back from playing Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens and possibly the following week against the Pittsburgh Steelers, a team source said yesterday. The source said that the injury, described as an avulsion fracture, does not require surgery and the exact date of Westbrook's return will depend on his level of pain tolerance. Westbrook suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Browns in Cleveland when he landed on top of the football after receiving a jarring hit from defensive end Kenard Lang.

This was the moment Dorsey Levens had been waiting for. And the moment Eagles fans had dreaded. Brian Westbrook sat on the bench late in the fourth quarter yesterday with his gear off, out of the game with a bruised chest. Westbrook, who had 43 yards on 13 carries when he came out, is scheduled to be examined today to determine the extent of his injury. That left Levens, the 34-year-old running back, as the man on the spot in the backfield. "It's nice to show what you can do," Levens said.

Pain felt good to Dorsey Levens last night. Levens, the second-oldest running back in the NFL and a second-time Eagle, rushed for 37 yards on 12 carries while playing only the first half in a 28-27 preseason loss to the New York Jets last night. While the 34-year-old was a key member of the Eagles in 2002 backing up Duce Staley, he suffered through a frustrating year with the New York Giants last season, when he was used sparingly. So being on the field to earn some bruises at the Meadowlands was a welcome feeling for Levens.