By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cincinnati Enquirer/ Craig Ruttle Takeo Spikes and Brian Simmons

If Takeo Spike and Brian Simmons were superheroes, wearing capes and masks instead of football helmets, they would be Batman and Robin.

If Spikes and Simmons, a pair of fifth-year Bengals linebackers, were basketball players, says teammate and friend Adrian Ross, they would be former Chicago Bulls superstars Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

"When you get two talented guys out there together, like Jordan and Pippin, what would one of them be without the other one?" Ross says. "Brian and Takeo are good by themselves, but they're a lot better yet together."

Spikes and Simmons have been linked since the Bengals picked them 13th and 17th overall in the 1998 draft. They are the foundation on which the NFL's ninth-ranked defense was built, and if the Bengals are to make a run at the playoffs for the first time since 1990, Spikes and Simmons will help carry them there.

And as close as they are on the field - they say they do not need to communicate verbally to know what the other will do - they have become close friends away from football, even though their personalities are entirely different.

Spikes is outgoing.

He is a bachelor who lists meeting people as a hobby. He went to Rio de Janeiro in the offseason.

"I'm the type of guy who likes to explore," he says. Simmons is quiet.

He is a homebody, the married father of a 6-year-old daughter whom he adores. His top vacation spot is Walt Disney World.

"I don't have too much to say to you until I get to know you," he says.

Spikes on Simmons   |   Simmons on Spikes