Levens Is Ready for Buccaneers

In his first season as Green Bay’s feature rusher, Dorsey Levens piled up yards and Pro Bowl votes at a pace second only to Barry Sanders among NFC running backs.

On the heels of a strong finish last year, Levens took over rushing duties for the Green Bay Packers when Edgar Bennett went down with a torn Achilles’ tendon in the preseason.

Without having to split snaps, Levens flourished, rushing for 1,435 yards in establishing himself as one of the league’s best running backs.

He ran roughshod over everybody except the one team that really had his number--the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, whom the Packers face in a playoff game Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Levens managed 44 and 54 yards in Green Bay’s sweep of the Buccaneers. In all other games, he averaged 95 yards rushing. He averaged 2.8 yards per carry against Tampa Bay, compared to 4.5 yards against everybody else.

Levens said he was eager for another shot at strong safety John Lynch and Tampa Bay’s small but quick front seven that take away the outside rush.

“It’s a challenge for me, the offensive line and [fullback] William Henderson,” Levens said Friday. “Those guys have pretty much shut us down on the ground the last two times we’ve played them.”

The Buccaneers also shut down Sanders, the co-MVP, in a wild-card game last week when Lynch put a vicious hit on Sanders that reverberated all the way to 1265 Lombardi Ave.

“It was outstanding. I’ve never seen Barry Sanders get hit like that in all the years I’ve watched him,” Packer offensive coordinator Sherm Lewis said.

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The front-runner for Marv Levy’s job in Buffalo appears to be Wade Phillips, the defensive coordinator and former head coach in Denver. The offensive coordinator, Dan Henning, is also a former head coach (in Atlanta and San Diego, as well as at Boston College), but would appear to have no shot.

If Phillips gets the job, Ralph Wilson, the owner, and John Butler, the general manager, will look for a strong offensive coordinator to right what was the weak half of the team. Philadelphia’s Jon Gruden is a name that keeps coming up for a lot of openings.