Takeo Spikes, Kelly Holcomb, Philadelphia Eagles

[Feva]

If Walker doesn't report to Bills camp by August 5th, the Eagles need to give them a 6th rounder. Or something along those lines.

Yup... and Walker comes back here.  That way... we can trade him again for more picks. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Yeah, his trade value will be sky high if that happens.

[Feva]

T'was a joke, sister...

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

So was mine, cuz.

[4and26]

If Walker doesn't report to Bills camp by August 5th, the Eagles need to give them a 6th rounder. Or something along those lines.

Yup... and Walker comes back here.  That way... we can trade him again for more picks. 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2889861&type=story#

[PhillyPhanInDC]

This dude is going to change the entire defense.

It doesn't take much to sharpen Spikes
By DANA PENNETT O'NEIL
oneild@phillynews.com


SITTING IN a darkened film room, Takeo Spikes waits.

He's not sure what exactly he's looking for; he'll know only when he sees it.

And he knows he'll see it because every week during the National Football League season, Spikes finds somebody or something on the opposing team to tick him off.

"I can look at a guy on film and not like his body language and that will piss me off for the rest of the week,'' said Spikes, the Eagles' new linebacker. "I look for it all the time, for something to set me off, something I don't like. I don't like guys who try to walk around the pile, chests all out big. It's almost like a bull's-eye, I've got to have you. By Sunday I have to have you.''

Since arriving via a trade with Buffalo, Spikes has been rightly praised for his role with Roger Goodell's new behavior police. A model citizen in a league looking to eradicate the Tank Johnsons and Chris Henrys of the world, Spikes has been lauded for his quiet intensity, his intelligence and his willingness to stand up and say that thuggery doesn't equate to cool.

What's been lost in the translation of all this Mr. Takeo Spikes, Esq., stuff is that he is every bit as nasty on the field as he is nice off it.

And yes, that's a compliment.

"He's Dawk,'' said Troy Vincent, Spikes' former teammate on the Buffalo Bills. "I can't wait to see the two of them in the same huddle. They're the same guy, the same guy. Takeo is just as crazy.''

As downright frightening as it may seem to have another Brian Dawkins in Eagles green, the two new comrades on defense are indeed similar cats. They share a strong faith and sense of morality. They are both polite and engaging and they both show that same slow burn of a fire in their eyes when talk turns to Sunday afternoons.

Before the trade, the pair teamed up for an activity geared toward athletes at the Wharton School. The charge was to complete a simulated business project in an allotted period of time.

"We didn't finish,'' Dawkins said, "because we both have that same sort of slow-talking thing going on. But when it comes to the field and it's time to roll, some players can't play with their emotions on the field. He's not one of those cats. I've watched him play. I know. He has that same warrior mentality, the dog. You say the word, 'dog,' and I picture him right next to me. I cannot wait.''

Frankly, neither can Spikes.

The Eagles, he said, present the perfect storm for him. Though his move here signaled an implicit acknowledgement that Andy Reid realized linebackers actually have a purpose, Spikes doesn't feel the pressure of being "the man'' here. He is on a defense dotted with superstars, from Jevon Kearse on the line to Jeremiah Trotter in the middle to Dawkins in the secondary.

Here he is simply a cog in what he expects to be a well-greased wheel. That is something Spikes, entering his 10th season, is altogether unfamiliar with.

Drafted by Cincinnati in the first round of the 1998 draft following his junior season at Auburn, Spikes never has played for what anyone would mistake as a good team. The Bengals were nothing short of a trainwreck; even the years when the defense wasn't woeful, the offense was so bad a one-touchdown deficit equated to an insurmountable mountain.

In his four seasons in Buffalo, the Bills made one halfhearted run at the playoffs, riding smoke, mirrors and the last of Drew Bledsoe to a 9-2 late run that came up one win shy of the playoffs.

In the Eagles he not only has a defense that long has been considered among the best in the NFL, he has a real, honest-to-goodness offense. We here in Philly may be wondering about the receiving corps, questioning the health of Donovan McNabb and fretting that Brian Westbrook may never see the sort of workload he had last year. But perspective is a funny thing. From where Spikes sits, from what he's dealt with, he hears all about these worries and says spare me.

Two years ago, Spikes ruptured his Achilles' tendon, an injury that was so debilitating that for a year he walked up the stairs to grab his baby daughter, Jakai, out of her crib, hoping that one day he'd be able to put his full body weight on his heel.

It never happened.

Spikes returned to start the season last year but admits he was far from himself. His highlight-reel moment came in the season opener when he leveled Tom Brady, forcing a fumble that London Fletcher returned for a touchdown.

From the top of the mountain, Spikes plummeted to the bottom, pulling a hamstring a series later and missing four games.

He felt more like himself by the end of the 2006 season but never entirely like the man he was before the Achilles' injury.

Or the player he promises he'll be here.

"I love quotes,'' he said. "One of my favorites is, 'The measure of a true baller is not where he stands after he makes a play but where he stands in times of adversity,''' Spikes said. "That was it. I tell myself all the time now, if you ever wanted to take advantage of me, you should have done it last year because this year, it's on.''

Asked if he feels like he's almost owed this opportunity, Spikes doesn't even let the question end.

"I deserve this,'' he said. "Absolutely I deserve it. I've been through a lot mentally as well as physically and I mean, how much [do you have] to put a guy through? Sometimes I'd get on my knees and just pray. What have I done? When is it my turn? When will I have a chance?''

As he was talking, Spikes paused. He remembered back to one of his early years in Cincinnati, when the Bengals were mired in a long losing streak and the emotional linebacker sat at his locker and literally cried.

A veteran player pulled him aside.

"He said, 'Listen, young fella, I understand your passion but at the same time you have to understand something,'' Spikes related. "Maybe you don't understand this now, but in order to become the player you want to be, you have to be surrounded by great players.

"I didn't understand that. In basketball, you had Michael, Magic, so why? Why is this different? Now I understand.''

And so each week he will sit in the film room, wait and watch.

His motor is already running. He just needs someone to gun the engine.

[Wingspan]

Yeah, until he pops his other achilles in the 2nd quarter of the 3rd preseason game.

[Geowhizzer]

Yeah, until he pops his other achilles in the 2nd quarter of the 3rd preseason game.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

(Yeah, I know, we all thought it, too.)

[PhillyPhreak54]

I love Spikes. I love the fact that football starts this week.

This defense has a shot to be very good. Reid and Heckert finally got a LB and a run-stuffing DT.

[rjs246]

This should have been in bold.

Since arriving via a trade with Buffalo, Spikes has been rightly praised for his role with Roger Goodell's new behavior police. A model citizen in a league looking to eradicate the Tank Johnsons and Chris Henrys of the world, Spikes has been lauded for his quiet intensity, his intelligence and his willingness to stand up and say that thuggery doesn't equate to cool.

What's been lost in the translation of all this Mr. Takeo Spikes, Esq., stuff is that he is every bit as nasty on the field as he is nice off it.

Boing.

[Dillen]

I love the fact that football starts this week.

Are you going to TC this year and posting those reports or whatever? That shtein is awesome.

[PhillyPhreak54]

His neck scares me. Those traps could kill someone

[ice grillin you]

This dude is going to change the entire defense

hopefully more than the other teams hes been on...his next playoff game will be his first

[PhillyPhanInDC]

This dude is going to change the entire defense

hopefully more than the other teams hes been on...his next playoff game will be his first

He's been on trash teams IGs. Teams where the best leader/player/motivator wouldn't have been able to do shtein.

[rjs246]

The best can always make a difference. That's what makes them the best. He'll help of course but let's not go jerking each other off just yet.