Spikes Returns to Buffalo
Former Buffalo Bills Linebacker, Takeo Spikes is returning to his former team on Sunday when the Bills play the 49ers and he is happy to come back.
Nick Mendola of WGR550.com wrote a brilliant article on the subject and was able to get what “TKO” said when he spoke to the Buffalo media yesterday.
Saying he told former teammates he planned to “retire a Buffalo Bill,” and that the area “was the first place to feel like home,” Takeo Spikes reacquainted himself with the Buffalo media during Wednesday’s Media Day at One Bills Drive, saying he loved the city because it’s “genuine.”
Spikes has recorded 69 tackles and three interceptions for the 3-8 San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo’s Week Thirteen opponent, and is ready to come back to the city.
“I’m getting ready to put on a show.” Spikes said. “There’s so much history, lot of good times, and it’s the first place I could really call home.”
During a conference call with the Buffalo media, Spikes said he’s been contemplating how he’ll be received at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
“I thought about it several times,” Spikes said. “I don’t think I left in a bad way, and from time-to-time when I see the games, I see a lot of No. 51 jerseys in the crowd, and I like to think that a lot of those 51 jerseys, no disrespect to Paul… I think I put in enough good work that they kept mind.”
With all the fanfare that accompanied his arrival in Western New York, and his explosion onto the Buffalo playing field, Spikes thought he’d be a Bill for life, and described his love for the city.
“It was just genuine,” Spikes said. ”I think about it from Day One. The last game of the year back in 2002, when I was playing in Cincinnati and the fans were almost like recruiting trip, with the mock jerseys with ‘Spikes’ on the back.’”
Spikes made 126 tackles during 2003, his first season in Buffalo, registered two sacks and picked off two passes. That was just a tip of the iceberg, as he nabbed five interceptions the following year to go with 99 tackles and three sacks.
Injuries marred the rest of his time in Buffalo, as he played just 15 games over his final two seasons in Buffalo. During his career, he racked up 312 tackles, seven sacks, seven interceptions and six fumbles.
“I talk to Mario and Crowell all the time, and even in my third year, I thought that I would’ve retired as a Buffalo Bill, as far as playing the rest of my years out and maybe getting another deal,” Spikes said.
Spikes said he is ”still searching” for his first playoff game, and will be after this year. He holds the longest active streak for regular season action without a playoff game in the National Football League, saying he won’t be known as a “3-8″ player when he’s done with the game.
“People respect you when you play (expletive) to the wall all the time,” Spikes said.
That second season in Buffalo was an incredible performance by any standards. In addition to the aforementioned stats, he defended 17 passes from the linebacker spot, and scored two touchdowns, including a 62-yard interception return against his first team, the Cincinnati Bengals.
Then came the injuries, and while he’s back to being productive, Spikes is certainly not the freak who vowed to come back from a season-ending injury as a “mad dog in a meat house.”
“I’m still searching. I try not to get caught up into ‘Why me?,’ but when is it going to happen to me? And I know that when it’s going to happen, I need to be doing everything I’m supposed to do. That’s why I don’t get lagged down about people having bad conversations about ‘We don’t do this,’ or ‘We don’t do that.’”
“It’s going to happen. It needs to happen soon. Lord knows I’m not the guy who came to Buffalo. I’m on the back nine now. I just started the back nine.”
On Sunday afternoon, Buffalo will greet him at the turn.
