MONTREAL — An exclusive club is to hold another meeting Sunday.
The roll call will feature the names of just two men. Both are 30-somethings who are still going strong in the CFL — and both are in the top 10 in league history in sacks.
Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive end Charleston Hughes and Montreal Alouettes defensive end John Bowman aren’t particularly close (“We’ve talked a few times in passing,” Bowman says) but there’s a mutual respect between two of the best pass-rushers of their era.
Part of that comes from the fact that they’re both still productive at their respective ages. Bowman is 36, while Hughes is 34.
“I’m happy for him and the success he’s having this year,” says Bowman, whose squad plays host to Hughes’ team on Sunday (11 a.m., CKRM, TSN) at Percival Molson Stadium.
“Unfortunately for me, I’ve been hurt a lot this year and haven’t been able to hold up my end of the bargain. But I like to see 30-plus-year-old guys still doing it when a lot of teams or owners or GMs think we’re expendable. We’re still working hard and giving it our all.”
“It’s amazing,” adds Hughes. “When you’ve got two older players like that in the league who are still at the top of their game and still pass-rushing at an elite level, it’s beautiful to me.”
Bowman broke into the CFL with the Alouettes in 2006 and recorded two sacks in 11 games as a rookie. After 209 career games, he has 124 sacks to rank eighth in league history.
Hughes’ CFL career started in 2008 with the Calgary Stampeders, for whom he had five sacks in 16 games that season. Now, through 160 career games, he has 112 sacks to sit ninth on the league’s all-time list.
Bowman is first and Hughes is second on the active list of CFL sack masters.
Hughes, who joined the Roughriders in a trade in February, leads the CFL with 13 quarterback takedowns in 13 games this season. He had one sack when the Roughriders played host to Montreal on June 30.
Bowman, who has battled injuries this season, has three sacks in nine contests entering Sunday’s game. He was shut out in the teams’ previous meeting in 2018.
For the past decade, the two pass-rushing stars have been at or near the top of the CFL’s sack table. Hughes is a three-time league leader (2013, 2016-17), while Bowman has won the title once (2015).
“He’s always where he needs to be,” Bowman says when asked about Hughes’ game. “He has a great hesitation move where he changes speeds, catches guys off balance and lulls people to sleep. But he’s also a cerebral guy.
“(Hughes’ coaches) have moved him around a lot and given him some stunts and twists and stuff like that. (His success) is a product of great coaching but also of being a great player.”
“Really, it’s his knowledge of the game,” Hughes says when asked for his take on Bowman. “He knows what he’s doing, he’s still a savvy veteran and he knows his pass-rush moves. He’s good at doing him.”
Despite their similar levels of success through the past 10 seasons, Bowman and Hughes don’t consider themselves the same kind of player.
“We do have some similarities as far as knowledge of the game, but as far as pass-rushing, we’re two totally different players and that shows on film,” says Hughes, a 6-foot-1, 246-pound product of Saginaw, Mich.
“I do totally different moves than he does. I guess you could say he’s more of a power rusher and I’m more of a speed, finesse rusher.”
Bowman agrees.
“I consider myself a little different because I don’t mind getting dirty,” says the 6-foot-3, 250-pounder out of Brooklyn, N.Y. “I’ll go in at nose, I’ll bull rush, I’ll set the pick on stunts. I don’t mind getting contact. Every scheme is different and my scheme has called for me to be in different places at times.
“But we’re both thinkers and we’re effort guys. We put it out there for our teammates and try to be accountable.”
And they’re both doing it at an age when a lot of players already have hung up their cleats and moved on.
Bowman and Hughes are still diligent about working on their craft and about keeping themselves in good shape. Doing so has helped keep both men relevant in what many consider to be a young man’s game.
“You’re only as old as you feel — and I’m good,” Hughes says with a laugh. “I feel great.”
“I know I can still play,” Bowman offers. “If I want to play two or three more years, I could. It’s how you treat yourself.
“As long as I’m competing, I’m still able to play. That’s what I told myself three years ago when I started to go on this year-by-year thing. If I’m still competing and giving guys hell, I’m going to keep going.”
That could mean more meetings of the club in future seasons.
Bowman and Hughes may not be buddy-buddy, but they appreciate the opportunity to play against each other.
“I’d say it is (special to face Bowman),” Hughes says. “He’s considered a Hall of Fame pass-rusher in this league, too. When it comes down to it, we both know what each other brings to the table.”
“I wouldn’t care if he was a rookie or if this was his 17th year or whatever; I just appreciate good football,” Bowman says of going against Hughes at this stage of their careers. “He plays the game clean and he plays it tough and that’s why I respect his game.”
