Saquon Barkley, the Chunky Monkey's team captain, stepped up when it counted most. The sophomore back tallied 422 yards and four touchdowns in the Monkey's two playoff games after disappointingly only accounting for 902 yards and three touchdowns the first fourteen weeks of the season. Barkley scored a season high 41.9 points in the championship game, culminating the in Monkey's fourth championship trophy in franchise history -- tying them with Dirty Birds for best in CTDB history.
The Monkeys overcame the feared Lamar Jackson (who should be the obvious MVP) and Mark Andrews stack who delivered with 62 points, but it wasn't quite enough for Custom J. Saquon and midseason waiver wire pick, Ryan Tannehill, delivered 74 combined points, which was the difference in the game. The Monkeys beat Custom J 139.2 - 123.8.
So how did the Monkeys get here? After missing the playoffs with a near rock bottom 4-9 season in 2017, the Monkeys hit the lottery with their Toilet Bowl win by drafting Barkley with the first pick in 2018. The team finished 9-4 in 2018 improved to 10-3 this year, en route to its first championship in six years. [ Previous titles: 2006, 2010, 2013 ] In only his second year in the league, Barkley has set the pace for resetting the Monkeys franchise.
Along with the help of an emergent Chris Godwin and the ageless Tom Brady, the Pats defense led the charge for the Monkeys in the first part of the season. The Patriots averaged sixteen points per game over the first eight weeks -- good enough to help the Monkeys to an 8-0 streak to start the season. While Brady and the Pats D eventually faded, it was good enough to secure the Monkeys a regular season second place finish and a first week playoff bye...and the rest is history.
The Monkeys have a bit of transformation more to do this off season. While Godwin has secured his spot on the keeper roster, there are a few question marks remaining. Hunter Henry failed to live up to expectations, Mark Ingram is on the wrong side of thirty, and is Stefon Diggs is really a WR2. For now though, the Monkeys can enjoy being the first franchise to four titles: no ties, no asterisks, just titles!
- Mark Ingram. Gritty performance by the thirty year old running back. Ingram finished as the #8 back on season despite being an unheralded older keeper for the Monkeys. He was a steady starter all season and locked down an unseasonably turbulent running back corps especially when Barkley was out.
- Chris Godwin. Probably the best pick of the draft. Godwin was snagged at the end of the first round and ended up being the #2 overall WR behind Michael Thomas.
- Tom Brady. The Monkeys long planned to stream quarterbacks but Brady, like the Patriots D, gave the team a surprisingly steady hand at QB. Brady was a team top three performer six out of the first eight weeks and played a big role in the team's roaring start to the season.
- Ryan Tannehill. A late season pick up that clinched the playoffs with two 30+ point performances, Tannehill was the lynchpin to the late season run especially after Brady faded late in the season.
As for Custom J, Josh's first season in CTDB has to counted as a huge success since they won the regular season crown by only losing one game all season. Led by Lamar Jackson, Nick Chubb, Leonard Fournette, DeAndre Hopkins, Joe Mixon, and Mark Andrews, Custom was close to a title but fell just a bit short. A new rivalry brews between them and Chunky and we'll see where Lamar can take them next season!
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