Monday, October 15, 2001
Defense heeds Spikes' message
By the fourth quarter, the Bengals had put the Browns beneath their boot heels, and they were stomping. It was an effort Takeo Spikes would have admired. That's the best you could say. On Sunday, Spikes' teammates played the way he'd like to have played himself.
If the Bengals needed any more reason to beat Cleveland, they got it Friday night. Spikes was having dinner at Benihana with a bunch of teammates when the call came. Jimmie Spikes, his father, friend and inspiration, had lost his war with cancer.
The old man had been the fire in Spikes' eyes. They looked alike. “Same facial structure,” Brian Simmons said. They were cut from the same rock. Same hard gaze, same deep set of the jaw. Don't mess with us.
They shared a personality, too. “Ol' country boys,” said Simmons. “That work ethic, that full speed ahead thing.” That linebacker mentality. They shared that.
Spikes missed the game, the first one he's missed in the 53 games he has been here. The Bengals didn't intend to pay tribute to him with the way they played. It just worked out that way.
It wasn't that the Bengals played great. The passing game still lacks, the kicking game still reeks.
After Neil Rackers power-sliced a 22-yard field goal try to end the first half, you half-expected an all-points call to Doug Pelfrey. Or maybe Richie Cunningham. He's not doing anything but hanging with Potsie and Ralph.
This was the kind of game the Bengals had been losing for 10 years. Only this time, they didn't. For three quarters, Corey Dillon body-punched the Browns — “Corey is what we are,” said Dick LeBeau — and, finally, Jon Kitna made enough big throws to keep the offense credible.
The defense made it work. The Bengals' defense gave the Browns offense exactly one play. Until they scored a cosmetic touchdown in the last minute, the Browns had Tim Couch, a blitzing JoJuan Armour in his face, lofting a 30-yard touchdown pass off his back foot, to Kevin Johnson in the first quarter.
It was a remarkable throw, one that showed how far Couch has come in three seasons. The rest of the game, the Bengals showed Couch how far he has to go.
The defense did it without Spikes, defensive lineman Tony Williams and cornerback Rodney Heath, who left the game in the first half. They did it with rookie Justin Smith smothering Couch on a crucial fourth quarter sack, Simmons' sideline-to-sideline hustle and, maybe, with a message Spikes delivered to LeBeau.
“Tell them to play hard for four quarters,” the defensive captain said.
The season opens up in a window of opportunity for the Bengals now. They can beat surprising Chicago here next week, and dreadful Detroit the week after. They play Tennessee and Jacksonville twice each in the second half of the year, but each looks less formidable than when the schedule came out.
The Titans are 1-3 and wobbly, the Jaguars don't have Fred Taylor now, or Tony Boselli for the rest of the year. Without Sunday's win, nobody would be thinking nice thoughts about the Bengals. Now?
“Hopefully this game will do something for a lot of guys' mindsets,” linebacker Steve Foley said.
Down in Sandersville, Ga., that would be music to Takeo Spikes' ears. He'll bury his father Monday. Several teammates will be there for him. Maybe, they will bring the game ball the team awarded him.
“Spikes was tight with his Pops,” Brian Simmons said. “Like brothers. You could tell that apple fell close to the tree.”
Simmons said he would call his friend Spikes on Sunday night, to express condolences, concerns and best wishes. Also, to say this about what happened at the stadium Sunday afternoon:
“We got it for you.”
E-mail: pdaugherty@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/daugherty.
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DAUGHERTY: Defense heeds Spikes' message
