He had time to check himself out on the big screen. Takeo Spikes tipped Elvis Grbac's pass with the fingertips of his left hand, brought the ball into his chest and took off like his hair was on fire.

        “I see a lot of green down there,” was how Spikes put it, “and I don't see anybody. I caught myself looking at myself running on the jumbo screen.”

        Spikes tumbled into the end zone after 66 yards of live TV, tackled too late by a Ravens tight end named John Jones. The Bengals bench covered Spikes in a flesh pile. Just like that, 10 years of pent-up fun spilled all over the grass. As Spikes crossed the goal line, half the Baltimore offense still lay face down on the sod, 65 yards away.

        It's possible, for now, to see past abysmal all the way to hope. It's dangerous, but no longer idiotic, to feel good about the Cincinnati Bengals. They beat and beat up the defending Super Bowl champions. Baltimore tight end Shannon Sharpe has said he wouldn't be a Bengal “for a $20 million signing bonus.” He called the franchise “Siberia.”

        Siberia 21, Ravens 10. They're partying in Irkutsk.

        Do we make too much of this? No. It is not possible to make too much of a Bengals team that is 2-0, one that laid a second-half domination on the defending best team in the game. A win like this makes you wonder what the Bengals might do if they maintain the same confidence they had Sunday. We're on the verge of finding out.

        It's easy to say Spikes won the game. His run put the Bengals up 11 with six minutes left. The Ravens were gassed. Their quarterback, Elvis Grbac, was running for his life. Elvis left the building, groggily.

Takeo Spikes scores a TD after an interception.

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        Every player helped win this game. But it was Spikes' triumph. He smashed his fist all over it.

        His father, Jimmie, is at home in Sandersville, Ga., gravely ill with a tumor on his brain. Takeo didn't know if he'd watched the game or not. “I'll have to call my mom” for that answer, Spikes said. This game was for him.

        And for Grbac, who spurned the Bengals bigger-money offer to play for a winner. And for Sharpe, who has verbally abused the Bengals franchise on a regular basis. And for Ravens coach Brian Billick, for running up the 37-0 score last September. And, really, just for being Billick.

        And for you, too, Modell. Just because.

        As linebacker Steve Foley noted: “They were trying to make us look like we don't belong in this league last year. It has to be in the back of your mind.”

        It wasn't in the back of Spikes' mind. It was front and center, and Sunday was payback time. “Yeah,” Spikes said. “Most definitely. Ab-so-lutely.”

        Then Spikes grinned. He smiled three times during a 10-minute news conference, which is three more times than he has done in three-plus seasons here. There are serious individuals, and there is Takeo Spikes.

        The guy smolders. When he's asleep, he's staring down his good dreams. You could carve a monument on his chin, bend nails with his frown. When his parents named him Takeo — Japanese for “great warrior” — they were on to something.

        Spikes felt it was his personal mission to whip the Ravens generally — “Guys on this team look at me as their Ray Lewis,” he said — and Grbac specifically. “A big motivation, man. I reminded everybody (Grbac) is the guy who didn't want to come here.”

        For the second game in a row, the defense kept the Bengals from lapsing into the last, Lost Decade. When Spikes made his interception, Baltimore had a first down at the Cincinnati 27 and trailed just 14-10. One play, the Ravens had the Bengals on the run. The next, the only one running was Spikes.

        “We're building something here,” Spikes decided, then excused himself.

        “I just can't wait to go see myself on the 7 o'clock (“SportsCenter”) highlights,” he said.

        Contact Paul Daugherty at 768-8454; fax: 768-8550; e-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Cincinnati.Com keyword: Daugherty.

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