Franchise: Tiiite End Jammers

With the first of our ongoing series, we look at all ten CTDB franchises. The last time we did this was over ten years ago so let's start anew and see where our teams have gotten to in the meantime: Franchises 2.0.

#7 Tiiite End Jammers, Lei
It's been hard to stand out in the super powered division that is Marvel, formerly Inscrutable Drama Kings. Multiple Super Bowl appearances, multiple titles, and even a handful of division wins have not been enough to set the Jammers apart as the cream of their division. However, make no mistake about it, Tiiite End Jammers are dangerous when they put it all together, as evidenced by the two shiny rings on Lei’s fingers. “Jammed Up (2008)”

Regular Season [ 118-114-2, 0.509 ]
We’ve said before that a successful Jammer season was usually one in which they tore out of the gates and then smashed their way to a title. Their two most successful start-to-finish seasons were exactly like this, as they went 11-2 and 12-1 in 2003 and 2014 respectively, ending both of those campaigns with Super Bowl victories, Super Bowl III and Super Bowl XIIII. The same thing would have happened in 2016, if not for an upset win in the title game by Fat Jubas.

In the first three seasons of CTDB, Jammers compiled a 26-13 regular season record and looked like a team for the future. However, a 5-8 2004 campaign followed, and then a 3-10 2005, and those two years were the start of the lost decade for Jammers. Between 2004 and 2012, Lei’s team posted a 45-71-1 record with only one season above 0.500 and an incredible five 5-8 records in nine years, including three in a row. It seemed like the Jammer franchise was lost at sea after their early success.

However, a bounce-back 8-5 2013 led into a rampaging 2014 and another Marvel division title — their second — as well as another championship. While it hasn’t all been smooth sailing since then — Jammers went 4-8-1 right after that second title year — there has at least been some stability as Jammers has been 23-16 in the last three seasons.

Overall, Jammers has captured three division titles and taken the regular season wins crown three times, which ties them with second-most along with Buffy and Battle Angels. All that winning and losing may come in erratic ups and downs but Jammers' 0.509 regular season winning percentage is good enough to rank them fourth overall in CTDB, right behind three of their Capcom division mates. Perhaps that lost decade was just due to being in a tough division that often saw the Jammers squeezed against some of the best teams in the league?

Playoffs [ 8-8, 0.500 | 16 games ]
For the most part, if Jammers can get out of the first round of the playoffs, they tend to do pretty well. Overall they've seen ten playoff seasons, which is the median mark for the league. Jammers have suffered four first round exits in seven tries though. However if they can get to the divisional round, they are slightly better at 3-3, albeit with all three of those wins coming when they’ve earned a first round bye. The short answer to Jammers’ postseason recipe is this: get a bye and avoid the first round.

The Jammers rarely get upset, or do the upsetting, and their closest playoff victory was all the way back in 2001, by eight points over Chunky Monkeys. Their next closest win was fifteen years later — +12.20 points in 2016 — over the Monkeys yet again. Overall, the Jammers don’t keep it close that often in the playoffs. They’ve literally only had one other single digit game aside from that 2001 matchup, a six point upset loss in 2013 to Dirty Birds. The Jammers really are all or nothing!

Jammers are 1-1 overall versus Fat Jubas, 1-1 versus Athena Nike, 1-0 versus both Jimmy and Jae, and have never met half the teams in CTDB in the playoffs. Is that weird? They have also never beaten Buffy or Dirty Birds in the playoffs, in two and four tries respectively. However, the Jammers are the undisputed Monkeys killers. Lei’s team has knocked Evan out of the playoffs four times in the playoffs — including back-to-back in our first two CTDB seasons — and have yet to lose a playoff game to Chunky. Do we smell huge rivalry here?

Toilet Bowl [ 2-4, 0.333 | 6 games ]
There’s been four Toilet Bowl appearances for Jammers — three in a row in 2010, 2011, 2012 — and they’ve managed to get to the TB Finals twice. Chunky Monkeys finally beat Jammers in a postseason matchup, winning the 2011 Toilet Bowl by +48.60 points, but even that victory was slightly Pyrrhic as Evan chose Trent Richardson with the first overall pick while Lei took DeMarco Murray. GM Lei seems to have a knack for doing great things with the number two overall pick as the following year he lost in the TB Finals to Gang Green but grabbed Le’Veon Bell in the following draft — while Greg took David Wilson. Here’s hoping we don’t see Jammers in the Toilet Bowl for some time, as they’ve been on a franchise tying streak of three straight seasons in the playoffs. Otherwise if you see Jammers in the TB Finals, it may be best to let them win...

Keepers [ 2008 - 2019 ]
Jammers have had the luxury of two of the longest tenured superstar receivers for their keeper core. It’s been seven years apiece for Demaryius Thomas and Antonio Brown on Tiiite End Jammers. Of course, 2019 could bring a change of scenery here as Thomas was let go as a keeper and Brown is well, facing some issues. Franchise runner Le’Veon Bell is going on his sixth year with Jammers while Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray had both logged five years each. There was also Percy Harvin for four years, plus a couple of keeper slots kept around for Maurice Jones-Drew and Julio Jones over the years. The current core still has Brown, Bell, and Jones, but new blood could be coming as the Jammers’ ex-Steelers are starting to lose their shine with on and off the field problems aplenty.

• Playoff Appearances: 10
• Division Titles: 3
• Most Regular Season Wins: 3
• Super Bowl Appearances: 3
• Championships: 2 (2003, 2014)

• Toilet Bowl Finals: 2
• Toilet Bowl Winner: 0

• Regular Season: 118-114-2, 0.509
• Overall Postseason: 10-12, 0.455 (22 games)
• Playoffs: 8-8, 0.500 (16 games)
• Toilet Bowl: 2-4, 0.333 (6 games)
• Playoff Point Differential: -52.60 points
• TB Point Differential: -62.65 points

The Great Division

It's long been a fact that the Marvel division has been superior to Capcom in every way -- see here for the old division names -- but the question is by how much?

For the regular season splits, Marvel is 626-537-8, taking 0.538 of their games while Capcom is at 537-630-4, which translates to a 0.460 winning percentage.

• Four of the top five all time regular season records belong in Marvel, with Gang Green being the only Capcom franchise that has an overall winning record in eighteen compiled seasons. Sometimes the regular season difference has been pretty stark between our two divisions. For example, there was one year, 2014, when Capcom boasted only one team above 0.500 — Phreaks at 7-6 — and everyone else finished at 5-8 for um, a pretty bleh year.

Also, when adjusted for owner and not sorted by franchise, Marvel owns all five of the top five regular season winning percentages — as Frank’s 35-30 and 0.538 win rate puts him at number two all time during his five seasons in the league. Basically, once Ante Up left CTDB, the division disparity got even bigger.

• With 12.5 Super Bowl titles going to Marvel, compared to Capcom’s 5.5 — it was half a title each for Dirty Birds and Gang Green resulting from their tie in Super Bowl VII — Marvel has most of the rings in CTDB history as well.

• Marvel also holds the edge in teams that paced a regular season in wins. There have been 15.5 Marvel teams with regular season high marks compared to just 3.5 for Capcom -- and three of those Capcom regular season win titles were by Battle Angel.

•  Heck, Marvel even holds the edge in Toilet Bowl Finals appearances — 10 for Marvel, 8 for Capcom — as well as having won five Toilet Bowls to Capcom’s four. (Note: This is possible because the Toilet Bowl is reseeded without regard for division.)

• In addition, with Athena Nike winning the 2018 title, every franchise in Marvel has won a championship, whereas two in Capcom have yet to grab a ring. Philadelphia Phreaks have yet to even make a Super Bowl, putting them on par with our three newest franchises and our old ones, Ante Up and Skool.

• Things even out a bit more for franchises with the most playoff appearances. Chunky Monkeys leads the way with sixteen appearances but Capcom’s Fat Jubas and Philadelphia Phreaks aren’t far behind with thirteen and twelve, respectively.

• As for variety in division title winners, Capcom has the edge there as four of their franchises rank in the top five of “most division titles,” while Marvel is paced by Chunky Monkey’s league-leaguing nine division titles.

So yeah, it's clear Marvel has historically been far greater than Capcom, but now we’re headed into a new era of CTDB, one which will be division-less and feature every team battling with every other team in the standings!

Championships:

• Dirty Birds (3.5)
• Chunky Monkeys (3)
• Fat Jubas (3)
• Buffy (3)
• Tiiite End Jammers (2)
• Gang Green (1.5)
• Battle Angels (1)
• Athena Nike (1)
• Philadelphia Phreaks, Fobsters (0)

Toilet Bowl Winners:

• Chunky Monkeys (2)
• Dirty Birds (2)
• Battle Angel (1)
• Buffy (1)
• Fat Jubas (1)
• Fobsters (1)
• Gang Green (1)
• Tiiite End Jammers, Athena Nike, Philadephia Phreaks (0)

CTDB: 2001 - 2018

We are entering the nineteenth season of CTDB, yes, nineteenth! Almost ten years ago, we finished our franchise series of posts — which ran from 2006 to 2011 — covering the first decade or so of CTDB. Now we’re back, armed with spreadsheets and more facts and figures.

Here is the historical CTDB sheet I’ve compiled, which mostly just tracks each season’s record, all time keepers, and postseason results: CTDB History

Note: We only switched over to ESPN full time in 2013 so some of the data from pre-2012 years (on CBS) is now gone. Luckily, this blog has provided us a historical artifact and screenshots of old standings and keepers have kept the memories alive. I’ve posted the all time regular season record below, but we’ll continue to use this history sheet to parse out some fun CTDB data! It’s been an astounding (almost) two decades!

Note, moving forward, “Team ID#” has been assigned to all franchise for the purpose of record keeping.

1. Fat Jubas
2. Chunky Monkeys
3. Gang Green
4. City of Angels Masterminds (Athena Nike / Ante Up)
5. Custom J (Dirty Birds)
6. Crunch Bunch (Fobsters / Skool)
7. Tiiite End Jammers
8. Philadelphia Phreaks
9. Buffy
10. Battle Angels

Draft Review: Capcom

We're a little behind on our draft reviews -- it's mid-WK1 -- but better late than never! It was a thrilling draft as two owners were traveling in Asia during the whole thing, but the commissioners got it done in time. There was talk of re-alignment or just collapsing CTDB into one big division, but that'll have to wait for next season. Let's take a quick look at what 2019 will look like for our teams heading into the season. [ Draft Board 2019 | Marvel draft review ]

Fat Jubas (5-8)
The worst team in the league last season — tied with Battle Angel actually — has all the makings of a bounce back  season. Keepers David Johnson, Chris Carson, Mike Evans, Adam Thielen, and old man Alshon Jeffery are good enough, they just need a leader! Enter Baker Mayfield, soon to be NFL MVP and thrower of many touchdowns to Odell Beckham Jr. (Yes, I saw WK1, but for Eric’s sake, let’s keep believing in Baker…)

The best news is that Jubas won the Toilet Bowl last season, earning him the first pick, which he used on consensus number one running back Josh Jacobs. Jacobs is exactly the infusion of young legs this backfield needs and by drafting pass catching Tevin Coleman in RD2 and the a pair of deep threats in Josh Gordon and Will Fuller, Jubas should be ready to fly this year. Old favorite Emmanuel Sanders — a Jubas’ keeper from 2014-16 — is back too. After two seasons with a combined nine wins, it’s time for Fat Jubas to turn the beat around!

Battle Angel (5-8)
One year after winning the Capcom division and making it all the way to the Super Bowl, Vu’s team collapsed in 2018  to the tune of five measly wins. With two of the best TEs in the game in Travis Kelce and George Kittle, plus Alvin Kamara at running back, all Vu needed was someone else to help out in the backfield because Marlon Mack was just a borderline keeper. So Battle Angel welcome two new rookies to the fold: RB David Montgomery and WR N’Keal Harry with his first two picks. Montgomery has the green light in the Bears running attack and if he can start quickly, Battle Angel will be back to their winning ways.

If not, there are are few old hands on here, but most of them have seen their best days. I mean, Robby Anderson and Matt Breida are probably young but they don’t have much fantasy upside do they? If sophomore runner Ronald Jones II can show anything more than he did last year though, he might be a nice pickup in RD7. Oh right, Russell Wilson is around to sling the football, and Brandin Cooks is the lead — and only — keeper receiver alongside Kelce and Kittle.

Crunch Bunch (6-7)
One of our three new owners, Eddie emerged from the dispersal draft with Melvin Gordon, Dalvin Cook, Amari Cooper, Michael Thomas, and Kenny Golladay. Looking to make an instant impact on the win loss column, Eddie locked up Austin Ekeler in RD3 as Gordon’s handcuff during his holdout and also grabbed Packers’ runner Aaron Jones with his RD1.4 pick for additional backfield insurance.

There’s a chance DJ Moore gets way better in his sophomore year, but even if he doesn’t, the receiving core is in good hands already — plus super vet Larry Fitzgerald at RD7. A mid-round gamble on Rashaad Penny seemed wise and then add in the duo of QB Jared Goff and TE Jared Cook and Crunch Bunch appears to have no weaknesses. Despite taking over from a franchise that casts a long shadow, Crunch Bunch should be ready to make their own mark on CTDB very quickly.

Philadelphia Phreaks (7-6)
Armed with last season’s MVP, Patrick Mahomes, the Phreaks continued extended their postseason streak to seven years in a row — and eight of the last nine. However, playoff success has been tough to come by as they’ve yet to hit a Super Bowl in franchise history. Could this finally be the year? JuJu Smith-Schuster should inherit the number one role in Pittsburg while Keenan Allen is a top receiver. Zach Ertz is here for his Eagle bonafides, but we have to question if keeping Carson Wentz — over say, Devonta Freeman — was really the move here in a ten team league.

With no running backs entering the draft, GM Ping grabbed as many as he could, starting off with Eagles’ rookie Miles Sanders, Derrius Guice, Tarik Cohen, and Darrell Henderson with his first four picks. Add in Dion Lewis, Jaylen Samuels, and Dare Ogunbowale late and that’s a potpourri of runners. We have no idea which will hit but let’s hope for the Phreaks sake that two of them do. We like Sterling Shepard as a RD5 pickup, and the receiving game should be in good hands overall, especially with Mahomes slinging the ball.

Gang Green (7-6)
For these two-time champs, winning has never been a problem, but putting a face to the franchise has been. Their biggest star of the past, well, forever, has been maybe a Brandon Marshall, a Davante Adams, or maybe Peyton Manning? Gang Green has never had the best player in fantasy but that’s all changed with Christian McCaffrey on board. Now he’s one of the best players, if not the best, in fantasy. After two seasons out of the playoffs, Gang Green upset their way all the way to the Super Bowl — for the fourth time — and despite a loss there, it was a hugely successful 2018 for Greg.

Armed with Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake in the backfield alongside the multi-faceted McCaffrey, GM Greg went heavy on the receivers to complement Davante Adams. Drafting via proxy from China, Greg added Calvin Ridley, Allen Robinson, Dede Westbrook, TE Austin Hooper, Jamison Crowder, and Devin Funchess. Each of them of has breakout potential and we’re thinking Deshaun Watson — or Dak Prescott -- will enjoy all his new targets to throw to. It’s time for Gang Green to push their star power around and re-take control of the Capcom division.

Draft Review: Marvel

Take a look at the draft recaps for two of our new teams, as well as the three old returning franchises, who are all at least two-time champs! [ Draft Board 2019 | Capcom draft review ]

LA Buffy (5-8)
The corpse of AJ Green returns to lead this team for his eighth straight season. He’ll be joined by Julian Edelman opposite him, but everyone on the core is new: James Conner, James, White, and Peyton Barber. With his RD1.3 pick, GM Roger eschewed all the rookies and took Devonta Freeman, who was a Phreak keeper the past three seasons. It could be a wise move for a team that has failed to reach 0.500 in two seasons.

As usual, Buffy was first to grab a defense, Bears, using one of their RD4 picks — acquired during last year’s fantastic Conner trade. OJ Howard will start at tight end, Christian Kirk could hit himself to Kyler Murray’s ascending star, and Buffy even has Matt Ryan and Drew Brees on hand to pilot this team back to the playoffs. It’s time for this three time title winner to return to the postseason!

City of Angels Masterminds (6-7)
What a classy name! “City of Angels!” The dispersal draft handed Marcus top pick Ezekiel Elliot and also gave the Masterminds the tremendous duo of Odell Beckham Jr. and TY Hilton. Andrew Luck’s retirement puts Hilton’s status as a top receiver on shakier ground but he shouldn’t fall off too far. The big question is if Todd Gurley is still anywhere close to his old self. The last piece from Marcus' dispersal draft, Cam Newton, will have to fend off Aaron Rodgers (RD3.5) if he falters. Having two great quarterbacks is not a bad problem to have however.

Philip Lindsay was nabbed with RD1.5, and then joined by Mike Williams, who is still awaiting an injury free season to display his full skills. We like the double TE duo of David Njoku and Eric Ebron too. A new franchise has no luxury to overlook character issues, so Kareem Hunt was taken near the end of the draft, and he could pay dividends. Still running deep routes, DeSean Jackson could still be a steal in RD12. We’re not sure why there are two kickers on this team — especially when one of them is the robotic Justin Tucker — but GM Marcus knows what he's doing so who are we to quibble? Taking over from the historically lowest winning team in CTDB, the Masterminds have nowhere to go but up in their journey to a title!

Tiiite End Jammers (7-6)
A team in turmoil, Jammers have been stellar the past three seasons — recording the highest win total in CTDB just three years ago, along with a Finals appearance — but the offseason have been rough. It was LeVeon Bell last year and Antonio Brown this year. With Brown now safely ensconced in Patriot land, there’s a chance he will have a historic year. At least his fellow superstar wideout Julio Jones signed a contract without drama.

Despite possibly needing to shore up the backfield — Jammers’ other keeper running backs were Sony Michel and Kerryon Johnson — GM Lei with with two Tylers for his RD1 and 2 selections, Lockett and Boyd. It wasn’t until LeSean McCoy in RD3 and then Adrian Peterson in RD11 that backups were brought in for his three keeper runners. Jameis Winston will get a start or two before the Kyler Murray train takes over, and Vance McDonald will find out if he’s better than Jimmy Graham. The Jammers are clearly still veteran focused and aiming for a return to proper contention.

Chunky Monkeys (9-4)
After winning the Toilet Bowl a year ago and selecting Saquon Barkley, the vaunted Chunky franchise returned to prominence after an awful 2017 that saw them record only for wins — their worst season ever. An upset by eventual champion Athena Nike wasn’t ideal (even if it was on-brand for Monkeys to gather the most regular season wins and then get tossed early) but it doesn’t matter, the Monkeys were back! It’s been six long years since the Monkeys have won a title and this three-time winner is looking to reassert itself atop the CTDB mountain.

Alongside Barkley, Evan will have Mark Ingram and Damien Williams in the backfield, plus Duke Johnson. Lead receiver Tyreek Hill just got injured in WK1, which makes Stefon Diggs the assumed number one. Unfortunately for Monkeys, I don’t know who RD1.8 pick Chris Godwin is but he’ll have to start playing right away, as well as someone from the Curtis Samuel, Tyrell Williams, and John Brown trio. For a team that paced CTDB in wins last season, this roster seems devoid of stars beyond Saquon. At least Tom Brady is here! Can the greatest ever lead CTDB’s presumptive greatest ever back to the title game? Or are the Monkeys merely back to swimming in mediocrity?

Josh Josh (7-6)
In real life, it’s rare for a returning champ to abdicate the throne but that’s exactly what 2018 champ Athena Nike did. The gaping void left by them will be filled by the still unnamed Josh Josh’s. Perhaps new owner Josh is afraid to curse his team with a bad name until he sees how they perform? The running game should be in good shape at least, with sophomore Nick Chubb, third year man Joe Mixon, and the likely return to form of Leonard Fournette. Having one of the best revivers in the game, if not the best, in DeAndre Hopkins will amp up the Lamar Jackson-led passing game.

GM Josh wisely went almost all receiver for his draft, adding to keepers Hopkins and Robert Woods with the following: Cooper Kupp, TE Evan Engram, Jarvis Landry, Sammy Watkins, Marvin Jones, Geronimo Allison, Courtland Sutton, and TE Mark Andrews. Based on WK1 results, that already looks like enough of a haul to bring the Josh Josh’s into position to challenge for their own title this season. I mean, Lamar Jackson…!!! We advise Josh to sit out the naming game until they can erect the statue of Lamar and let him pick the name.