BENGALS Spikes finally gets his wish

One of the league's hottest teams, the Bills have a shot at the playoffs.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- December has always been the cruelest month for Takeo Spikes.
For five dismal seasons, the exceptional linebacker threw his body around the field in yet another meaningless late season game with the Cincinnati Bengals. He would play hard even though it didn't matter, and pine for the playoffs.
On Sunday, he finally gets his wish. Spikes will play a December game in Cincinnati with major implications.
The Buffalo Bills (7-6) have barged into the field of playoff contenders by winning four straight and seven of their past nine games. In his second season with the Bills, Spikes is learning at long last how it feels to be somewhere other than last in the final month.
It's everything he imagined.
"This is what I wanted to do, to be part of something special," Spikes said. "The emotions are going to run wild, man. The biggest reason is I've never been in the month of December, this late, and still had something to play for other than pride."
Playoffs a long shot
His old team is back on familiar ground.
The Bengals (6-7) essentially knocked themselves out of contention with a 35-28 loss at New England last Sunday, leaving five teams ahead of them for the AFC's two wild card berths. Plus, Carson Palmer got knocked out of the game with a sprained knee, prompting Jon Kitna's return to quarterback.
The Bills and Bengals are two of the NFL's hottest teams, pulling themselves out of slow starts with a flourish. Cincinnati faded last Sunday. Buffalo can't afford to do the same a week later.
"We're in a playoff situation right now," quarterback Drew Bledsoe said. "We're playing for our lives. Every game we go into we have to win or we're done. That's what it is."
To stay in contention, the Bills will have to do something they haven't done in a long time. They haven't won five in a row since 1998, but standing in their way is a team that looks like them.
The Bills are on one of the best tears in franchise history. They've scored at least 37 points in each of their past four games, a team record. Their 154 points also is a record for a four-game stretch, better than Jim Kelly's prolific 1992 team.
Willis McGahee has six 100-yard games since he became the featured running back, leading the Bills to a 7-1 mark when he starts. And Bledsoe has recovered from an abysmal start by cranking out solid, consistent performances.
Peaking at the end
In the past two months, they've evolved into a team that no one wants to play this time of year.
"I'm pretty sure we have a big target on our chests with the way we've been playing lately," offensive tackle Jonas Jennings said. "We're feeling good. We know exactly what we have to do."
So do the Bengals. They have to stay on their own roll, one that's just as impressive as Buffalo's.
The Bengals have topped 450 yards of offense in each of the past three games, a franchise first, and averaged 37 points per game, identical to the Bills. Most of it can be traced to Palmer, who had started to emerge in his first season running the offense.
Now, it looks like it will be up to Kitna -- the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year last season -- to keep it going.
Palmer was on crutches all week and said he'd be shocked if he played against the Bills. Kitna led the offense in a 22-16 overtime loss at Buffalo last season.