Davis set to take run at Redskins

After three 1,300-yard seasons, two Pro Bowls and seven years with the Washington Redskins, running back Stephen Davis is on the other side.

Davis gets reacquainted tomorrow night with the team that drafted and nutured him when his Carolina Panthers play host to Washington in the preseason opener for both.

“Yeah, it’s going to be strange,” Davis said yesterday from Spartanburg, S.C., where the Panthers hold training camp. “I’ve been in the war with them and everything.”

Davis won’t play long in this first preseason game, probably going one offensive series or just a little more. The real reunion won’t be until Nov.16, when the Redskins return to Carolina.

Still, both sides acknowledged some significance to this meeting. Davis was the heart of the Redskins’ offense from 1999 to 2001, a mainstay in an organization of transition until last winter when he, too, fell victim to another new era.

“Stephen’s been here since my first day in training camp,” said cornerback Champ Bailey, a 1999 draft pick. “It’s going to feel funny, but he’s got to become one of our victims now.”

The Redskins released Davis in late February, unable to justify the remaining years on the nine-year, $90million contract he signed in 2000 — the one that was supposed to make him a “Redskin for life.”

Although that deal was constructed with inflated values that were meant to look pretty and then force renegotiations, Davis’ performance in 2000 and 2001 escalated his compensation to mammoth proportions. And then coach Steve Spurrier came along.

Spurrier’s Fun ’n’ Gun didn’t fit the workhorse back who lived between the tackles and often was best on his 25th carry of the game. Spurrier wanted to throw; Davis wanted to run. Davis expressed his frustration at several points in the season and by December the scenario was, to say the least, portentous.

Davis was on the bench with an injured shoulder. Spurrier was running the aerial assault he made famous at Florida. And the team was prepared to move on.

“He was a key figure,” tackle Jon Jansen said. “He was a leader on the team. He was a go-to guy with the ball. Whenever you lose a guy like that, you always lose something from your offense. But hopefully we’ve replaced him with different weapons.”

Indeed, cutting Davis helped facilitate Washington’s aggressive offseason, in which it upgraded the speed at the skill positions (including running back, where it traded for Trung Canidate) and the blocking on the interior line.

Davis, meanwhile, got less attention as a free agent than expected. He ultimately accepted a relatively modest five-year, $15.5million deal to play in Charlotte, though the upside was joining an offense sure to lean on his skills and playing in an area near his hometown of Spartanburg. He laughed yesterday as he described growing up just five minutes from the current site of Panthers camp.

“It’s a good situation for me and my family,” Davis said. “I’m going to get the ball a lot here. I feel good about it.”

Davis conceded that part of him will always remain a Redskin. Although his departure wasn’t pleasant, he said it didn’t overshadow the good times and friendships.

“Considering how it ended, it was frustrating,” Davis said. “But it’s good memories. I’ve got no regrets toward anybody.”

For Washington, this will be an early — albeit brief — test for a reconstructed defensive line. The Redskins’ biggest question entering the season is the line, and the biggest question is whether it can stop the run. Challenge No.1 is Davis.

“It’s a building process, but you kind of get a feel for where you are,” new nose tackle Brandon Noble said. “And obviously I’ve played against Stephen for years [as a Dallas Cowboy]. He’s a good downhill runner that will give us a stiff challenge.”

Asked whether it will be interesting to face that line, Davis laughed and pointed to another, more proven area of the Redskins’ defense.

“It’s going to be very interesting going up against their linebackers,” he said.

Funny, that’s exactly what Washington linebacker LaVar Arrington said, as he expressed little interest in a battle that is giving a little juice to an otherwise nondescript preseason game.

“I haven’t really thought too much about [the matchup],” Arrington said. “I’m sure I’m on his mind more than he’s on my mind.”