Courtesy Montreal Gazette:

Eddie Davis and Ben Cahoon are more passing acquaintances than friends despite their veteran status in the CFL.

They are among the league’s longest-serving players after having started their CFL careers in the 1990s. Cahoon joined the Montreal Alouettes after being selected in the first round (sixth overall) in the 1998 CFL draft.

Davis started his career with the Birmingham Barracudas in 1995. He joined the Calgary Stampeders in 1996 after Birmingham folded. Davis spent five seasons with Calgary before signing with the Riders as a free agent in 2001.

The two had crossed paths before that but since joining the Riders, the 36-year-old Davis has opposed Cahoon, 37, in 15 regular-season games and one playoff encounter.

“He’s a warrior and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him,” Cahoon said Thursday in the Alouettes’ locker room at Olympic Stadium. “I know that each time that we’re head to head that it’s going to be a war for 60 minutes.”

Today’s game between the Riders and Alouettes may feature another of those battles. There won’t be a lot of talking between the two but Davis expects contact of a different sort.

“He’s a good guy and I know that he’s a hard-nosed competitor, just like me,” said Davis. “We wouldn’t have it any other way. When we’re on the field, we’re not necessarily friends because we are competing against each other. That’s what I would expect from a great competitor.”

Cahoon has enjoyed some success against the Riders. Overall, he has 98 receptions for 1,221 yards and five touchdowns. Since 2001 — when Davis signed with the Riders — Cahoon has 82 receptions for 998 yards and five touchdowns against Saskatchewan.

“That was also the time that I made the switch from being a wide receiver to slotback,” said Cahoon. “That meant there were a lot of balls that were thrown inside.”

Davis remembers one route in particular that Cahoon completed. That was in 2001 in Montreal when Cahoon ran a play called a 39 post. Davis said Cahoon ran a pattern torwards the wide side of the field then turned it back towards the post.

“It was second and five and Cahoon had been running me from one side of the field to other, like he normally does,” said Davis. “He ran that route on me and he was wide, wide open. I made the tackle a little later but that was the last time that he beat me on that route.”

Those type of competitive moments are what make the battle between the veterans special.

“It’s tough because he’s a very steady defensive back,” said Cahoon, who is third in the CFL this season with 43 receptions for 524 yards but no touchdowns. “He doesn’t take a lot of risks and it’s hard to influence him. He and (veteran cornerback) Omarr Morgan play very well together. They play off each other and they try to confuse us.”

Cahoon and Davis have gotten to know each other off the field more through their contacts with the CFL Players’ Association. They’ve attended CFLPA meetings in Las Vegas, which has helped.

“I don’t imagine that we’ll exchange Christmas cards,” said Cahoon. “We have run into each other. That’s when we give each other a big hug and relate some war stories.”

Some of those stories will likely include their battles over the years.

“We’re both crafty guys and we know the game well,” said Davis. “We use that to our advantage. We don’t have to be the fastest or quickest guys out there. We use our minds to play and that makes us a step faster than most of the other guys.”

Read more….