PITTSBURGH — Most of the other boys in Takeo Spikes' neighborhood were three and four years older, so when sides were chosen for football, basketball or stickball games, he was always the last picked because he was the smallest.

        “I used to go home and be so mad because I knew I could play,” the third-year Bengals linebacker said. “I always wanted to show them I could play.”

        The boyhood slight lit a spark inside Spikes that burns like a wildfire today.

        He still wants to show people he can play. He wouldn't let his size get in the way back then. And he won't let playing for a bad team now stop him, either.

        Spikes, who had more than 100 tackles in each of his first two seasons, is on pace to set a team record with 122 solo tackles, but it's easy to see why is he overlooked and underrated around the NFL. The problem isn't Spikes. It's his environment.

        Cincinnati, which will attempt to win its first game in six starts today in Pittsburgh, is 0-5 this season and 7-30 since he joined. And great players on losing teams — especially the NFL's worst — don't get the recognition.

        “It would be easier for somebody to nominate me for the Pro Bowl if we were winning,” Spikes said. “I'm going to put it right out on the street: We're the laughingstock of the league. But my self-pride, my burning desire is to be the best. We may not win games, but I bet people come away respecting No.51.”

        Even before he was Georgia's “Mr. Football” at Washington County High School, Spikes watched a Lou Holtz motivational tape and wrote down a list of personal goals.

        The first point was to go to a Division I school. He did that at Auburn. Check.

        The second goal was to be one of the top three linebackers coming out of college. He was named national defensive player of the year as a junior -- his final season at Auburn -- by Football News.Check.

        He wanted to be a first-round pick and play in the NFL. He was the 13th overall choice in the 1998 draft and has started in all 37 Bengals games since. Check and check.

        Spikes' high school list is 80-percent complete. Only one more goal has to be met.

        “It's easy for anyone to come in here and fall along the wayside and come into this little cloud we're going through,” he said. “It takes a strong person to fight through that.”

        With another horrible start dooming the team's slim postseason hopes, Spikes finds motivation in his personal goals. He wants to play well to help the team win and be recognized for what he believes he is -- one of the best linebackers in the NFL.

        “If you look at the productivity charts, I think I've gotten better. I'm playing at a level where I compare to a lot of other linebackers. I'm not saying I'm the best. I think I'm right there among the best.”

        The numbers support Spikes' assertion. If the season were to end today, he should be in the Pro Bowl.

        In five games, Spikes has 45 tackles -- 38 solo -- two interceptions and one sack. He covers his half of the field and most of the other side.

        Miami's Zach Thomas has also played five games and has 40 tackles, half a sack and no interceptions.

        Tampa Bay's Derrick Brooks, in six games, has 61 tackles but no sacks or interceptions.

        Jacksonville's Kevin Hardy has 35 tackles.

        And the league's most reknowned linebacker, Baltimore's Ray Lewis, has 65 tackles and one interception in six games.

        “I'm a Ray Lewis type,” said Spikes, who knows Lewis from Atlanta, where they both live in the offseason. “I'm always around the ball. You never see him around the ball second. He's always going to get the first hit. If you look at my stats, I'm always going to get double-digit solos (tackles) and not as many assists.

        “I always want them to be aware of where No. 51 is at. Even when they do run away from me, I'm coming to get it. When they run toward me, I'm blowing it up. If I don't make the tackle, I will make the play.”

        Lewis admires how the 6-foot-1, 243-pound Spikes plays.

        “Any time you have a linebacker who's going to the ball on any given down and who stays on the field for all three downs, that's definitely a plus,” Lewis said.

        Bengals fullback Clif Groce thinks Spikes would be the league's highest-profile linebacker if he played in Baltimore's defense and was surrounded by the Ravens' many defensive stars.

        “See how many tackles he'd have without having to do all the checks and cover man-to-man,” Groce said.

        Spikes had a Lewis-like day in the Bengals' 37-0 loss at Baltimore. He had 14 tackles, 12 solos. More important, unlike some of his teammates, he didn't quit.

        He hopes such games to add up to a spot on the AFC Pro Bowl team.

        “Without personal goals in your life, you don't have too much to drive for,” said Spikes, who doesn't turn 24 until Dec. 17. “The personal goals give you the additional umph. That extra edge.”

        Even in defeat, Spikes has earned the respect of his opponents.

        Running back Jerome Bettis of the Steelers, who will meet up with Spikes for the fifth time today, said, “He's one of the better linebackers in the NFL. He's strong, he's fast, he's physical. There's not much negative you can say about the guy. He makes plays from sideline to sideline.”

        Spikes is durable. He plays every down. Last year, as defensive caption -- an honor he was voted again this season by teammates -- Spikes played in 1,040 defensive snaps, or 98.2 percent of all Cincinnati defensive plays. He led the team in 1999 with four forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. He also had two interceptions and three sacks.

        Spikes is in the third year of a five-year contract with the Bengals. He will have just turned 26 when it ends. The question is, Will he re-sign in Cincinnati?

        “I want to win. Where people are not winning, I won't be there,” he said. “Let's just leave it at that.”

        Then there's that matter of the fifth goal in his list from high school.

        “My last goal on the sheet was to be in Canton, Ohio,” he said of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “Some people laughed at me. They didn't understand it came from the heart. Most people don't think like that in high school.”

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