Hello fellow fantasy football fanatics! Welcome to the next-to-last installment of Old Dog Learns New Tricks - I hope everyone has a Safe and Happy Holidays next week!
Last week I detailed my 0-8 travails in the GPP/Tournament space at FanDuel - I took a beat down due to a combination of injury (to Roy Helu) and ineptitude (New Orleans' D/ST). My morale was sinking (after 14 weeks of playing DFS I can't do better than 0-8?), but I am also rational enough to know that the injury bug can bite anyone, anyweek. So I perservered and actually entered one MORE GPP/Tournament on FanDuel last week: the result? A 4-5 record, with high enough winning entries that I wound up significantly ahead of where I started out in Week 15. My bankroll was also boosted by a 12-7 record in 50/50 leagues. Phew, now I don't feel so stupid!
I didn't put together any marginal lineups last week - either I finished in the top 1/4 of entries or WAY out of the money, which tells me that I'm getting the knack of GPP/Tourney lineups. My 50/50 lineups also were either top 25 or bottom 20, but I managed to compile more top-25 units than bottom-20 selections. The Ben Roethlisberger/Le'Veon Bell/Odell Beckham Jr/Antonio Gates/K.C. D/ST lineup at the bottom of this article was my best effort of the weekend (147.7 points), followed closely by a Derek Anderson/Le'Veon Bell/DeMarco Murray/Harry Douglas/Kelvin Benjamin/Rob Gronkowski combination (143.58 points) - the complete lineups are listed at bottom of this article.
This week I'd like to highlight a report on the Footballguys.com site that should be referenced weekly during December/January: the NFL Weather Report. The main item that I reference on weather reports is anticipated wind speed - in certain venues like Heinz Field or Arrowhead Stadium, wind speed can have a major impact on the passing and kicking phases of the game. As December and January tend to be blustery months, I try to make sure I don't start quarterbacks or kickers if anticipated winds in outdoor venues are expected to exceed 15 MPH. Also, if a particularly strong winter storm is bearing down on any given venue, I'll avoid the teams in that game as well.
As usual each week, I also 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. ATL Passing Attack at NO Pass D: The Saints' pass D is now tied for 26th in the NFL averaging 257.1 net passing yards allowed per game, with 24 pass scores given out vs. 11 interceptions (tied for 19th in the NFL) - and this game has a history of being high-scoring. Matt Ryan tossed 31/43 for 448 yards passing, three TDs and zero interceptions thrown (one sack taken for -8 yards) the last time he saw New Orleans way back in Week 1. He could have similar numbers again this time around. New Orleans' D has (inexplicably) played very poorly at home this year, by the way...
2. GB Rushing Attack at Tampa Bay Rush D: Eddie Lacy was very effective in this phase of the game last week in Buffalo, posting 15/97/1 rushing (with 2/11/0 receiving) after savaging Atlanta with 13/73/1 rushing and 5/33/1 receiving two weeks ago. The Buccaneers' rush D is among the league's lower tier, averaging 116.1 rushing yards allowed per game (19th in the NFL) with 12 rushing scores given out to date. Carolina posted 32/121/0 rushing on this club last week; Detroit had 31/113/1 rushing vs. Tampa two weeks ago. I want Lacy in my lineups this weekend!
As I will be taking breaking news and updated injury reports into consideration while crafting my Week 16 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 16 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 16th week of the 2014 season, along with sharing some thoughts about the past year in DFS - what have we learned?
Also, I hope that YOU win all YOUR leagues this week! Good Luck!
50/50 Roster 1 + GPP Roster 1
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Ben Roethlisberger | $8,700.00 | 6 | 14.2 |
| RB | LeVeon Bell | $9,600.00 | 59 | 26.4 |
| RB | Justin Forsett | $7,700.00 | 25 | 5.2 |
| WR | Odell Beckham Jr | $8,500.00 | 59 | 36.3 |
| WR | Harry Douglas | $5,800.00 | 19 | 18.1 |
| WR | Marquess Wilson | $4,500.00 | 49 | 9.1 |
| TE | Antonio Gates | $5,500.00 | 13 | 14.4 |
| K | Matt Bryant | $4,800.00 | 11 | 8 |
| D | Kansas City Chiefs | $4,900.00 | 29 | 16 |
50/50 Roster 2 + GPP Roster 2
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Derek Anderson | $5,000.00 | 42 | 16.48 |
| RB | LeVeon Bell | $9,600.00 | 59 | 26.4 |
| RB | DeMarco Murray | $9,300.00 | 3 | 20.9 |
| WR | Kelvin Benjamin | $7,600.00 | 7 | 14.4 |
| WR | Harry Douglas | $5,800.00 | 19 | 18.1 |
| WR | Cole Beasley | $5,700.00 | 1 | 6.2 |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | $7,600.00 | 11 | 17.1 |
| K | Cairo Santos | $4,500.00 | 30 | 8 |
| D | Kansas City Chiefs | $4,900.00 | 29 | 16 |
50/50 Roster 3
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Derek Anderson | $5,000.00 | 42 | 16.48 |
| RB | LeVeon Bell | $9,600.00 | 59 | 26.4 |
| RB | DeMarco Murray | $9,300.00 | 3 | 20.9 |
| WR | Kelvin Benjamin | $7,600.00 | 7 | 14.4 |
| WR | Harry Douglas | $5,800.00 | 19 | 18.1 |
| WR | Cole Beasley | $5,700.00 | 1 | 6.2 |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | $7,600.00 | 11 | 17.1 |
| K | Cairo Santos | $4,500.00 | 30 | 8 |
| D | New York Jets | $4,900.00 | 5 | 7 |
GPP Roster 3
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Matt Ryan | $7,900.00 | 7 | 22.1 |
| RB | Arian Foster | $8,900.00 | 7.1 | 13.2 |
| RB | Matt Forte | $9,000.00 | 13.4 | 10.9 |
| WR | Donte Moncrief | $5,700.00 | 7.4 | 0 |
| WR | Harry Douglas | $5,800.00 | 19 | 18.1 |
| WR | Jeremy Maclin | $8,000.00 | 5.6 | 11.8 |
| TE | Jason Witten | $5,300.00 | 2.8 | 10.4 |
| K | Cairo Santos | $4,500.00 | 30 | 8 |
| D | New York Jets | $4,900.00 | 5 | 7 |
50/50 Roster 4
| Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
| QB | Andrew Luck | $10,100.00 | 7 | 16.28 |
| RB | Jonathan Stewart | $6,700.00 | 14 | 6.6 |
| RB | Isaiah Crowell | $6,500.00 | 10 | 3.7 |
| WR | T.Y. Hilton | $8,800.00 | 13 | 7 |
| WR | Pierre Garcon | $6,000.00 | 4 | 5.6 |
| WR | Harry Douglas | $5,800.00 | 28 | 18.1 |
| TE | Antonio Gates | $5,500.00 | 12 | 14.4 |
| K | Cody Parkey | $5,300.00 | 2 | 11 |
| D | Baltimore Ravens | $5,300.00 | 21 | 16 |
Photos provided by Imagn Images