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Thanks everyone for checking back in for Week 2 of Old Dog Learns New Tricks - I appreciate each person who reads my material.
I always find it difficult to be productive on 9/11. Never forget.
This week I am wearing a rally cap to write this article. I learned a lot in Week 1 about the differences between Daily Fantasy Sports and a standard redraft league - in the various redraft leagues that I am actively managing this year (not including mock-drafted teams in best ball mode), I won 80% of my Week 1 matchups. In my first week on FanDuel, I won 0%. Yup, you read that right, 0%. My head-to-head matchups went right down to the wire, and in two-out-of-three instances, I lost by less than one fantasy point (98.14-98.84 and 102.28-103.24 ) - this fact gives me some solace despite the O-fer week I endured in Week 1.
Fortunately, I was intentionally very conservative with my bankroll in Week 1, as I referenced in last week's column. I am planning on sticking with that same strategy here in Week 2 as I continue to progress along my Daily Fantasy Sports learning curve.
During week one, a normally stalwart fantasy star imploded and left me high-and-dry in DFS. I had Jamaal Charles locked and loaded - across all nine of my rosters (I had three different lineups that I went with during Week One, see below). Needless to say, 34 yards total from Charles really hurt my rosters across the board. So, I have now learned LESSON ONE - from here on out, the various two or three rosters I play each week in DFS will have a unique lineup - NO players repeated. No matter how "automatic" a particular player may be from a year-long perspective, everyone has a bad week now and again. Even Jamaal Charles.
Head coach Andy Reid took the blame for Charles' lack of involvement in the offense. "Not giving 25 the ball more than seven times is negligence on my part," Reid said Monday, September 8. Personally, I wanted to jump through the screen and scream imprecations in his face when I heard him say that - I can't write down what I would have said in this space as it is not suitable for publication at Footballguys.com... I'm sure other fantasy owners with Charles on their roster felt the same impulse.
Although the Jets and 49ers won their games with relative ease, as anticipated due to their matchups as detailed last week, Derek Carr was less horrible (and had fewer misfortunes against Gang Green) than I thought he would be in his first start, which limited the scoring of the Jets' defense. This relative lack of scoring by the Jets D also hurt my DFS scoring last week, reinforcing LESSON ONE.
Anyway, this week I am going to be looking carefully at many matchups (those rated either Great or Good in the Rushing and Passing matchups), but particularly:
1. The Dallas at Tennessee matchup. Both the rushing and the passing matchup are greatly in favor of the Titans. In addition to all the losses already absorbed by the (very unimpressive) Dallas defensive team, the Cowboys' starting SLB Justin Durant is now expected to miss 3-4 weeks due to a groin injury, further weakening the defensive front for Allas (no D in Dallas right now).
2. Kansas City at Denver looks very favorable for the Broncos - if Jake Locker could light up the Chiefs' secondary - 22/33 for 266 yards, two TDs and zero interceptions in spite of taking four sacks and eight other hits from the Chiefs' defenders, - what will Peyton Manning and company do with Manning well-protected behind the superior Denver offensive line? Win big, probably, in my estimation, though AFC West matchups are always hard-fought affairs. Also, due to unfortunate Week 1, season-ending injuries to ILB Derrick Johnson and DE Mike DeVito, the Chiefs' defense is also juggling their starting lineup coming into this game, another circumstance in favor of the Broncos.
As I will be taking breaking news and updated injury reports into consideration while crafting my Week 2 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 2 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 second week of the 2014 season, along with sharing some thoughts about DFS in Week 3.
Good Luck everyone, I hope you win ALL your leagues this year!
My Week 1 Rosters
Roster 1 | ||||
Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
QB | Nick Foles | 8500 | 14 | 15.88 |
RB | Jamaal Charles | 9800 | 10.9 | 5.4 |
RB | Frank Gore | 7200 | 17.6 | 6.6 |
WR | Marques Colston | 5700 | 12.6 | 11.5 |
WR | Brandon Marshall | 8100 | 12 | 15.1 |
WR | Michael Floyd | 6600 | 5.7 | 15.1 |
TE | Zach Ertz | 4500 | 9 | 15.2 |
K | Caleb Sturgis | 4600 | 0.5 | 15 |
D | Jets D | 5000 | 10.1 | 3 |
Roster 2 | ||||
Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
QB | Shaun Hill | 5000 | 12 | 2.14 |
RB | Jamaal Charles | 9800 | 18 | 5.4 |
RB | LeSean McCoy | 9400 | 43 | 14.5 |
WR | Jeremy Maclin | 5000 | 32 | 17.7 |
WR | Emmanuel Sanders | 6400 | 30 | 11.8 |
WR | Calvin Johnson | 9200 | 12 | 31.9 |
TE | Jace Amaro | 4500 | 1 | 1.7 |
K | Stephen Gostkowski | 5400 | 3 | 10 |
D | Jets D | 5000 | 10.1 | 3 |
Roster 3 | ||||
Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
QB | Colin Kaepernick | 8500 | 9.4 | 17.14 |
RB | Jamaal Charles | 9800 | 13.3 | 5.4 |
RB | Frank Gore | 7200 | 15.4 | 6.6 |
WR | Marques Colston | 5700 | 13 | 11.5 |
WR | A.J. Green | 8300 | 6.8 | 22.6 |
WR | Michael Crabtree | 6500 | 6 | 3.5 |
TE | Jace Amaro | 4500 | 0.2 | 1.7 |
K | Nate Freese | 4500 | 5.7 | 9 |
D | Jets D | 5000 | 10.1 | 3 |