Undefeated

2-0 and on top of the world. That's what the Chunky Monkeys and Ante Up are. In the traditionally tough Inscrutable Drama Kings division, it's hard to claw your way to the top. Last year's division winner, Ante Up (10-3), and perennial power Chunky Monkeys (8-4-1) are sitting pretty again. How are they doing it?

ANTE UP
After last year's dominating streak to end the year, Ante Up is picking up right where they left off last season. Disregarding their loss in the playoffs, Ante Up has won 9 regular season games in a row. Impressive. Especially considering that Ante Up has had an up and down franchise record. Three 5-8 records (2001, 2002, 2004) and only one other winning season, 8-7 in 2003. If you want to go to pre-historic history however, before we had the CBS Record Book up, I believe Ante Up ripped off 8 or 9 wins in a row in our inaugural year -- of course, he also lost an equal number of games in a row that year (Fred Taylor, guess when he got hurt?) to leave him at 0.500 or very close to that.

Last year's success was powered by RB Edgerrin James, QB Trent Green, and the decently productive duo of WRs Chris Chambers and Reggie Wayne. Some things have changed in 2006. RB Brian Westbrook seems to be revitablized, with his rushing/receiving skills piling up the yards. WR Donald Driver has been en fuego and should continue to produce with Brett Favre throwing his arm out every game. And WR Reggie Wayne? Back on track with Peyton and Co.

The problem area is that RB Edgerrin James, long the cornerstone of this franchise, is struggling. His move to the desert has not been good for his numbers. And let's not even talk about Chris Chambers, who is forced to receive passes from the inept Daunte Culpepper. Ante Up is gonna need Edgerrin to pick up the pace if they wish to continue winning. Backup Corey Dillon is a man-stud but he's sharing carries with a rookie. Oh, and did we mention that Trent Green has been knocked out of the game for a few weeks? That's never good, maybe brittle Kurt Warner can pick up the slack. Warner has actually been a much better QB than Green so there is hope here.

This year, Ante Up has scored the second most points in the league (218) while shellacking the Fobsters in WK2 (122-67) and a close win in WK 1 versus Buffy (96-91). Their matchup in WK3 against the Dirty Birds seems to be in their favor so we could easily be looking at 3-0 for Ante Up.

CHUNKY MONKEYS
L-O-A-D-E-D. The Monkeys are walking into WK3 with carry over points totaling 66 points. The L boys -- LT and LJ -- combine for 43 points. Kicker Nate Kaeding (15) Chargers D (8) and Terrell Owens (2) make up the rest of the bye week. This might be enough points to beat some teams already.

Mix in Peyton Manning (38 last week), a surprising Laveranues Coles (19 pts each of the first two weeks), and the possible back on track Andre Johnson (13 pts each of the first two weeks). Is there any question as to why the Monkeys are averaging over 130+ points a week and beating opponents by an average of 35 points each week?

Let's not forget young RBs Frank Gore (18pts) and Chester Taylor (13) who sat the bench for the first two weeks. Do you realize that the Monkeys have 4 of the top 10 RBs in the league? And the bottom one has been Larry Johnson. Wow.

This team is so good I want to cry. Or trade. The only uplifting part of this story for the other owners is that #1 WR Terrell Owens has been injured and there is not much depth behind him. Michael Clayton probably won't do enough to consistently be the answer. But with that many quality RBs available, who cares who's catching the ball?

Best QB, best RBs, one of the best Ks and Defenses in the game. Can this equal (finally) championship?