By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Buffalo Bills' Takeo Spikes (51) celebrates with London Fletcher after stopping the New England Patriots in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Sept. 7. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Teammates who struggle to win a Super Bowl, says Takeo Spikes, are bound forever by the shared achievement.

At the other end of the NFL spectrum, Spikes says he will always be close with many of his Bengals teammates, though he has moved on to the Buffalo Bills.

"I know how much we did to try to turn things around," Spikes told the Enquirer on Monday. "I still root for them. They're my boys. There's a piece of me still there."

Spikes, the Bengals' top draft choice in 1998, will face his former team for the first time Sunday in Buffalo.

"It's going to be a very emotional game," said Spikes, who was 19-61 in five seasons in Cincinnati.

The game also will be a reunion for two other long-time Bengals. Former assistant, defensive coordinator and head coach Dick LeBeau is the Bills assistant head coach. Former Bengals defensive tackle and assistant coach Tim Krumrie coaches the defensive line.

Krumrie and LeBeau turned down interview requests last week.

Spikes is the big attraction, though.

The Bengals declined to match the offer sheet Spikes received from the Bills as an unrestricted free agent in March. The same day Buffalo offered Spikes $9 million to sign a six-year, $32 million contract, the Bengals and new coach Marvin Lewis signed linebacker Kevin Hardy to a four-year contract and prepared Spikes' No. 51 jersey for him.

Asked Monday about playing Spikes, Lewis said, "Yeah, I think Takeo plays linebacker for the Buffalo Bills, so that's good."

Spikes would agree. He has 36 tackles through four games for the Bills, one sack, two interceptions and one fumble recovery. He was AFC Defensive Player of the Week after his performance against New England, a 31-0 Buffalo victory.

The Bills have lost their last two and dropped to 2-2, but Spikes does not regret his decision to leave Cincinnati.

"It has been everything I hoped it would be, even though we lost the last two," Spikes said Monday. "The reason we're losing is what we're doing to ourselves."

Spikes also is getting the national media attention as a Bill that he rarely - if ever - received as a Bengal. Since Week 1, Spikes has done the Jim Rome and Dan Patrick radio shows. He appears in ESPN's parade commercials promoting the network's NFL coverage. Spikes also has weekly radio shows in both Buffalo and Rochester, and a weekly TV segment with WKBW, the ABC affiliate in Buffalo.

"That's the fun part," he said. "But it's not all about Takeo Spikes. The organization, the team, they allow me to get the attention because they win. All these people say, 'Spikes, I didn't know you could play so good.' I say, 'You don't know what you can't see.'

"I do love the camera, man."

Spikes was the featured NFL player in a piece produced by ESPN two weeks ago, shortly after actress Jennifer Lopez and actor Ben Affleck postponed their wedding.

Spikes was filmed picking the petals off a flower, saying, "She loves me, she loves me not" in a mock attempt to woo the suddenly available Lopez. Later, Spikes closed the piece by speaking lines he came up with on his own: "J. Lo, give me a call. I'm 6-foot-1, 242 pounds of hot chocolate."

Did she call? "Nah," Spikes said. "She's all right now."

No. 1? "Nah, but top 5."

Along with? "Kelly Rowland, Beyonce (Knowles), Janet Jackson, Halle Berry."

Spikes approached the ESPN comedy piece the same way he approaches the game. He wanted to know who the other players were.

"Whenever I do something, I want to be the best," he said.

That was Spikes' approach with the Bengals. He led the team in tackles four of five seasons. His tenacity and desire to win won him respect of his teammates.

"It won't be strange (playing against him), " quarterback Jon Kitna said. "It will be fun because he's a competitor, and you like to play against people who are competing and doing it the right way."

Spikes talks regularly with former teammates Brian Simmons, Artrell Hawkins, Tony Williams, Willie Anderson and Adrian Ross.

"I'm not going to go out and try to do something spectacular," Spikes said of Sunday's game. "I'm going to go out, do my best and let the chips fall where they may."

Bengals at Bills

When: 1 p.m. Sunday.

Records: Bengals 1-3; Bills 2-2.

TV: Chs. 12, 7.

Radio: WCKY-AM (1360) and WOFX-FM (92.5).

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E-mail mcurnutte@enquirer.com

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