Hello fellow fantasy football fanatics! Can you believe it is already December? Where has the year gone? Anyway, thanks for reading and playing along with me this year in the Daily Fantasy Sports space - it's been a wild ride, and last week was perhaps the wildest weekend of the season yet! Six passing scores for Ryan Fitzpatrick? YEAH, I saw that coming (not!)... As you may note, the player pictured at the top of this column is NOT Ryan Fitzpatrick (because I didn't own him in any league last weekend), but is, rather, Tre Mason. With his massive 117 yards rushing/two rushing TDs + 47 yards receiving/one receiving TD performance last weekend, he put me over the top in several 50/50 entries, and helped me place in two GPP/tournament entries. Woo Hoo, thanks Tre Mason!
However, as you probably experienced last weekend, scores that would normally finish comfortably in the money during a "normal" week were marginal during Week 13 - one of my FanDuel lineups featuring Drew Stanton and Kenny Stills scored 149.06 points last week and finished 2-1 in 50/50 leagues (going 45th, 47th, and 54th, respectively - see lineup #3 below), and also finished out of the money in it's GPP/tournament entry! That's a tough row to hoe, friends!
Gladly, my other lineups last week finished ahead of the #3 lineup, with a variation of the Stanton/Stills lineup notching 152.06 points (lineup #2 below), and then a separate Ben Roethlisberger/Antonio Brown lineup finishing first for me last week (with 160.6 points). All told I went 9-6 in 50/50 leagues, and 2-4 in GPP/tournaments, for a weekly total of 11 wins and 10 losses. The two entries that cashed in the GPP segment covered the cost of all six entries in that segment, so I had a pretty good weekend overall. None-the-less, I am determined to do better this weekend (as you are, I'm sure).
I will pass over my very few (0-3) Thanksgiving Day DFS entries in near-silence, except to hereby swear off involvement in Dallas Thanksgiving Day games for the foreseeable future. ;-)
This week, I'd like to highlight David Dodd's daily game blog, Taking My Shot at Greatness in the Daily Space, for the readers of this column - he has some critical information on 2014 FanDuel Cash Game Results Summarized that is a must-read discussion for players at FanDuel. I HIGHLY recommend that you invest the time to read through this discussion to help sharpen your plays in the Daily Fantasy Sports space.
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. GB Rushing Attack vs. ATL Rush D: Over the last three weeks, Eddie Lacy has handled 56/292/2 rushing and 7/75/2 receiving - Atlanta is 20th in the league averaging 118.2 rushing yards allowed per game, with 15 rushing scores given up (worst in the NFL in this category). It doesn't get much better than that when it comes to matchups, folks. Also, the Monday Night lights tend to bring out the utmost effort in NFL players.
2. NO Passing Attack vs. CAR Pass D: Drew Brees and company remain one of the best passing attacks in the NFL - just look at what they did in Heinz Field last Sunday, gouging the Steelers for five TD passes (Brees threw 19/27 for 257 yards, five TDs and zero interceptions, with one sack taken for -7 yards; meanwhile Week 13 DFS favorite Kenny Stills collected six targets for 5/162/1 receiving). The Panthers' pass D is a mess this year, allowing an average of 243.5 net passing yards per game (17th in the NFL), with a hefty 22 passing scores given out to date. At home in Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday, I'm thinking that Brees will thrive in this must-win game.
As I will be taking breaking news and updated injury reports into consideration while crafting my Week 14 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 14 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 14th week of the 2014 season, along with sharing some thoughts about DFS in Week 15.
Also, I hope that YOU win all YOUR leagues this week! Good Luck!
Roster 1
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Ben Roethlisberger | $8,300 | 15.7 | 28.2 |
| RB | Tre Mason | $6,000 | 28.6 | 35.9 |
| RB | Rashad Jennings | $7,100 | 14 | 22.9 |
| WR | Antonio Brown | $9,200 | 16.6 | 27.7 |
| WR | Randall Cobb | $8,500 | 5.3 | 12.8 |
| WR | Malcom Floyd | $5,400 | 3.8 | 10 |
| TE | Delanie Walker | $5,700 | 14.1 | 1.1 |
| K | Macon Crosby | $4,900 | 7.8 | 14 |
| D | Miami Dolphins | $4,900 | 36.8 | 8 |
Roster 2
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Drew Stanton | $6,500 | 4 | 14.46 |
| RB | Justin Forsett | $7,600 | 14 | 13.3 |
| RB | Rashad Jennings | $7,100 | 14 | 22.9 |
| WR | Demaryius Thomas | $9,400 | 10 | 15.3 |
| WR | Kenny Stills | $5,100 | 55 | 24.7 |
| WR | Jordy Nelson | $8,900 | 1 | 12.3 |
| TE | Travis Kelce | $5,300 | 21 | 5.1 |
| K | Shaun Suisham | $4,900 | 6 | 12 |
| D | St. Louis Rams | $5,200 | 18 | 32 |
Roster 3
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Drew Stanton | $6,500 | 4 | 14.46 |
| RB | LeVeon Bell | $9,200 | 28 | 35.4 |
| RB | Rashad Jennings | $7,100 | 14 | 22.9 |
| WR | Demaryius Thomas | $9,400 | 10 | 15.3 |
| WR | Kenny Stills | $5,100 | 55 | 24.7 |
| WR | Malcom Floyd | $5,400 | 5 | 10 |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | $7,700 | 30 | 13.3 |
| K | Chandler Catanzaro | $4,600 | 29 | 5 |
| D | Miami Dolphins | $4,900 | 60 | 8 |