Happy Holidays, Fellow Fantasy Fanatics - Welcome to the Week 13 edition of Old Dog Learns New Tricks! I hope that everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving celebration!
This week I am excited to report that I had my best weekend ever in the tournaments/GPP's at FanDuel during Week 12 - my best-scoring team of the year, led by Drew Brees' 29.3. scored 167.3 and finished 124th out of 45,977 entries in one tournament! The high placing in the tournament was joined by another finish in the money by the team led by Andrew Luck that wound up adding a modest boost to my bottom line. Overall I went 2-3 in tournaments/GPP's and 8-7 in 50/50's to once again finish 10-10 over the weekend. It wasn't perfect, but the high-scoring lineup offset the struggles of my Mark-Sanchez-led lineup. I'll take it and be happy.
As I work to refine my DFS lineups, I've been checking in with Justin Bonnema's The Fade each week (the linked article is his Thanksgiving Day special) - I've found his analysis quite helpful in whittling down the various prospects each week, and I commend it to your attention as you work on your DFS squads during the final 1/4 of the season.
As usual each week, I refer to the passing and rushing matchups that I write around here to help guide my DFS squads - my goal each week is to have players on teams that do not face a tough or bad matchup over the weekend/Monday night. Looking forward to the Sunday games, two of the best matchups of the week that I see are:
1. NYG Rushing Attack at JAX Rush D: The Jaguars have allowed nine rushing scores over 11 games while ranking 28th in the NFL averaging 130.6 rushing yards given up per game. Last week, Indianapolis hung 35/175/1 rushing on the Jaguars; Dallas had 30/151/1 rushing two games ago. Enough said.
2. MIA Passing Attack at NYJ Pass D: The Jets' pass D is awful. They are dead last with 27 passing scores given up, and dead last with three interceptions generated to date. Meanwhile, Ryan Tannehill has thrown for multiple TDs in three of his last four games, with 26/36 for 228 yards, three TDs and one interception thrown at Denver last week during a narrow 36-39 loss. I like the look of that for Miami, friends!
As I will be taking breaking news and updated injury reports into consideration while crafting my Week 13 DFS squads right up until kickoff on Sunday (I am putting my own money on the line here, after all), I will post my Week 13 results and lineups in next week's edition of Old Dog Learns New Tricks. I hope that you, the reader, will check back in to see how a fellow DFS beginner fared in the 13th week of the 2014 season, along with sharing some thoughts about DFS in Week 14.
Also, I hope that YOU win all YOUR leagues this week! Good Luck!
Roster 1
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Drew Brees | $9,000 | 4.1 | 29.3 |
| RB | Jerick McKinnon | $5,600 | 3.5 | 7.8 |
| RB | Isaiah Crowell | $5,500 | 19.1 | 20.8 |
| WR | Kenny Stills | $5,900 | 13.3 | 13.6 |
| WR | Demaryius Thomas | $9,000 | 7.5 | 31.7 |
| WR | DeAndre Hopkins | $7,400 | 2.8 | 6.4 |
| TE | Jimmy Graham | $7,500 | 7.1 | 19.7 |
| K | Cody Parkey | $5,000 | 3.5 | 21 |
| D | Philadelphia Eagles | $5,100 | 14.9 | 17 |
Roster 2
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Andrew Luck | $10,300 | 11 | 15.02 |
| RB | Isaiah Crowell | $5,500 | 17.4 | 20.8 |
| RB | Eddie Lacy | $8,600 | 8.1 | 26.8 |
| WR | T.Y. Hilton | $8,500 | 15.1 | 21.7 |
| WR | Cody Latimer | $4,500 | 0.1 | 0 |
| WR | Jordan Matthews | $7,700 | 8.8 | 10.7 |
| TE | Coby Fleener | $5,400 | 38 | 3.8 |
| K | Billy Cundiff | $4,500 | 18.6 | 14 |
| D | Seattle Seahawks | $5,000 | 8.6 | 14 |
Roster 3
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Josh McCown | $7,500 | 10 | 14.84 |
| RB | Eddie Lacy | $8,600 | 5 | 26.8 |
| RB | Justin Forsett | $7,700 | 12 | 32 |
| WR | Sammy Watkins | $7,500 | 8 | 5 |
| WR | Mike Evans | $8,400 | 13 | 12.2 |
| WR | Nate Washington | $5,000 | 1 | 8.3 |
| TE | Coby Fleener | $5,400 | 60 | 3.8 |
| K | Robbie Gould | $4,600 | 8 | 3 |
| D | Buffalo Bills | $5,200 | 12 | 18 |
Roster 4
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Mark Sanchez | $7,500 | 7 | 14.68 |
| RB | Alfred Blue | $7,200 | 6.2 | 8.1 |
| RB | LeSean McCoy | $7,700 | 15 | 19.6 |
| WR | Kenny Stills | $5,900 | 13.4 | 13.6 |
| WR | A.J. Green | $8,600 | 6.4 | 18.1 |
| WR | Reggie Wayne | $6,900 | 5.5 | 2.5 |
| TE | Martellus Bennett | $6,200 | 3.9 | 5.7 |
| K | Josh Brown | $4,700 | 1.1 | 4 |
| D | Philadelphia Eagles | $5,100 | 13.8 | 17 |