Ante Up Rivered

And then were two. After a tight battle through much of the day between the Monkeys and a surging Ante Up, Roddy White gave the Monkeys much needed breathing room before the Pats Defense closed out a terrific Round 2 in the IDK conference with a 118-104 victory.

Despite team captain, Aaron Rodgers, being knocked out with a concussion - the scrappy Ante Up team battled all day long. Back up, Josh Freeman, put up a very respectable 20 points while runningback Ray Rice energized the team with a ridiculous 37 point day with 150+ yards rushing, 80 yards receiving on 5 catches to go along with 2 tds. That was buttressed by a Kenny Bitt re-emergence with 6 catches for nearly 130 yards. Ante Up finished with 104 points – enough to win probably most games.

But the Monkeys got hot at the right time. Philip Rivers led the way with an ultra efficient 31 points on 270+ yards and 3 TDs (all to Vincent Jackson) on Thursday night against the Niners. His supporting cast was more than adequate. Brandon Marshall finally had a coming out part of sorts by putting up 100 yards on 11 catches to go with a touch (19 yards). Jamaal Charles was electric again with 126 yards (80 of which came on one play only to be caught from behind at the 5 – typical) and a touch to finish with 21 points. Lastly, Roddy White ended a 4 week scoring drought with 15 points. Kaeding (10 pts) and the Pats D (14 pts) were seemingly shrewd roster moves by GM Evan as they proved to be more than the difference. At least enough to over come Rice’s monster day.

In his post game interview, Philip Rivers told the media that “We just played well in all phases. We didn’t have huge explosive games like Ray Rice had but our guys played extremely well. I can't say enough about Jamaal Charles. He shares the rock but is averaging over 6 yards per carry and is the 3rd in the league this year in rushing. We also have a bunch of receivers capable of absolutely lighting it up. They take turns and you saw that this week with BMarsh and Roddy. I'll also definitely be looking for Quan next week. We have tons of talent and we are certainly looking forward to showing them off in the Super Bowl.”

In a quick post game analysis, ESPN Analyst, Adam Shefter noted that “The Monkeys clearly have the superior roster in the upcoming Championship weekend. While you can never discount a team that has Tom Brady, the Monkeys have an extremely deep team this year. While this has become Philip Rivers’ team, you need to watch out for Jamaal Charles who has quickly become an elite back in this league. Charles has 1,961 yards in his last 17 games on only 297 carries. That is 6.6 yards per carry. As for the passing, the formula for the Monkeys is easy. 2-3 20+ point performers (this week was Marshall and Rivers) and you’ll see the 120+ points we’re used to seeing the Monkeys put up each week. Next week will be a tremendous matchup.”