Packers Lose Bennett for Season

Last year, Robert Brooks. This year, Edgar Bennett.

The Green Bay Packers, who lost their best receiver to a knee injury last October, will have to ditch the tailback tandem that diversified their offense and carried them to the Super Bowl title.

The champions lost halfback Edgar Bennett for the season with a torn Achilles’ tendon in a 20-0 exhibition victory over Miami on Saturday night at Green Bay, Wis.

Bennett was injured on an 18-yard run on the Packers’ second possession. His loss leaves Dorsey Levens as Green Bay’s primary rusher.

“It just put a damper on what we did today,” said all-pro strong safety LeRoy Butler, who has played with Bennett since high school. “He’s like a brother to me.”

In a shared role with Levens last year, Bennett rushed for 899 yards and a career-best 4.0-yards average. He also had 31 receptions for 176 yards.

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Jeff Lewis threw for a touchdown and scrambled for one to lead the Denver Broncos to a 31-10 victory over the Bruce Smith-less Buffalo Bills at Denver.

Buffalo quarterbacks Todd Collins and Billy Joe Hobert turned in unspectacular performances for the Bills, who are playing without Jim Kelly for the first time since 1985. Collins, Kelly’s understudy the last three seasons, completed five of nine passes for 63 yards before Hobert took over midway through the second quarter and completed three of 10 for 62 yards.

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Randall Cunningham made a successful return to football and Moe Williams caught a decisive 65-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter as the Minnesota Vikings beat the Seattle Seahawks, 28-26, in the annual Hall of Fame game at Canton, Ohio.

After former Barcelona Dragon quarterback Jon Kitna led the Seahawks back from an 18-point deficit to within 21-19, Williams caught a short pass over the middle from Jay Walker and scampered free to give the Vikings a 28-19 lead.

Cunningham, who came out of retirement after a year away from football, was 10 of 14 for 102 yards and one touchdown.

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The Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers are in Dublin, Ireland, for today’s American Bowl, a big name for an NFL exhibition game aimed mostly at promoting the sport abroad and cutting television and licensing deals.

Between 25,000 and 30,000 are expected to half-fill Croke Park, the storied home of Gaelic football and hurling. The Americans have angered some Gaelic football fans, who will have to wait a week for a key playoff semifinal because the Yanks are playing what Europeans call “a friendly match” at the north Dublin venue.

“Oversized, overexposed and over here,” read a headline in the daily Irish Independent.

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Rodney Peete, battling for his NFL life, says he won’t go down without a fight.

“Absolutely not,” the quarterback said after an impressive performance in the Philadelphia Eagles’ controlled scrimmage against the Baltimore Ravens at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.

Peete was four of four for 46 yards, including a 16-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Solomon, in his first game action since he suffered a knee injury against Dallas in the fifth game last season.

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Pat Swilling’s retirement from the Oakland Raiders may not be as permanent as he had led some teammates to believe.

Swilling, the 1989 NFL defensive player of the year and a four-time Pro Bowl selection, abruptly left the Raiders’ camp Thursday night after telling several teammates he planned to end his 11-year career.

But Raider Coach Joe Bugel said Saturday that he spoke with Swilling earlier in the day and planned to meet with him today.

“We had a real good conversation,” Bugel said. “I never shut the door on a football player. That’s not the Raider way. Remember we’re dealing with people, and all the people on this team mean a lot to me.”

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The eye injury that sidelined Brian Williams earlier this week might require surgery and could force the veteran New York Giant center to sit out the rest of the preseason. . . . The Dallas Cowboys have taken unprecedented steps to prevent a repeat of player misbehavior, including the installation of cameras in the dormitories at their training base at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Owner Jerry Jones would not comment on any specifics, but sources in the team’s administration said they included cameras secretly installed in the dorms. “We know when a player leaves his room after curfew,” the source said.