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Hello fellow fantasy football fanatics - welcome to the sixth installment of Old Dog Learns New Tricks.
Last week, I wrote about perserverance, in the wake of a tough week on FanDuel. This week, I'll start off with a quotation from Thomas A. Edison:
“Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
-Thomas A. Edison
Week 5 was an exact opposite of Week 4 for this Old Dog - I went 10-for-11 on Fanduel, losing just one head-to-head matchup during the entire weekend. Perserverance paid off, friends! Factors that played into the strong weekend were:
1. I avoided Calvin Johnson as the 2/12/0 "decoy" Sunday during Week 4 had convinced me that he was more disabled by his ankle injury than the Lions were letting on - this turned out to be accurate, as Johnson posted another horrid outing with one target for 1/7/0 vs. the Bills.
2. I decided that I liked Peyton Manning/Julius Thomas vs. Arizona even more than I liked Andrew Luck/T.Y. Hilton vs. Baltimore. So I went with the more expensive but also more productive Manning/Thomas pairing in one of my lineups, and that pairing produced my top lineup on FanDuel last weekend - see below. The research I did on Friday night/Saturday/Sunday last week paid off and put me in a position to win.
3. Fortunately, Rashad Jennings did enough to keep my Manning/Thomas lineup afloat before he got injured. This is one of the "pure luck" instances that can break for or against fantasy owners - THIS week, it worked out fine. Though I must admit I was wistful about the Andre Williams' TD shortly after Jennings' injury - that SHOULD have been in my fantasy team's column!
Heading into Week 6, I'd like to highlight Dr. Jene Bramel's Second Opinion column Inside the Injury Report - this should be on your "Required Reading List" each and every week before you set your Daily Fantasy Sports lineups at FanDuel. Here's what Dr. Bramel wrote last week regarding Calvin Johnson (bold emphasis added by me):
calvin johnson | ankle | dnp
Johnson admitted he was a decoy and only barely able to play last week. He didn't do enough during the game to cause any setbacks, so there's hope that another week of healing and intensive treatment will get him ready to see his usual number of targets. But we're looking at another week of watching his late week practice prep, deciphering his media interviews and guessing about his health for Sunday.
I don't want to be guessing about a player's readiness to perform - thanks to Dr. Bramel I didn't have Johnson's 1/7/0 on any of my FanDuel lineups. You should also be reading Dr. Bramel's "living document" Sunday Morning Injury Expectations (I linked to last week's document - you'll find this week's edition under the Sunday Morning Material heading on the Week 6 Content page at the bottom of the articles list, on Sunday morning, October 12). The Sunday Morning Injury Expectations responds to situations developing during team warmups and etc. - it is the very latest information available for players who may or may not be able to contribute on Sundays. I STRONGLY recommend reading through the Sunday Morning Injury Expectations about 12:30 PM on Sunday mornings, as you may find a "surprise" inactive cropping up that can impact your DFS lineups in a positive or negative way.
As I have mentioned previously, I write the weekly rushing and passing matchups around here - so one of my guideposts for DFS at FanDuel is to only consider players that do not have tough or bad matchups heading into Week 6. Looking at the matchups this week, the two most favorable pairings I see are:
1.DEN Passing Attack vs. NYJ - the hapless Jets held the football for just 21:06 at San Diego last week, and they surrendered 20/28 for 288 yards, three TDs and one interception to the Chargers - how much passing yardage and TDs will the Broncos rack up this week? It's bound to be an impressive total, friends. Manning had a "mere" 31/47 for 479 yards passing, four TDs and two interceptions vs. Arizona last week, and the Jets' defense is similar in that they are strong vs. opposing rushers and weak in the passing phase of the game - the Jets have given up 12 passing scores vs. just one interception this year. Also, the Jets' pass rushing prowess isn't translating into strong play in the secondary. Oh, and the Broncos are down to their backup/reserve running backs thanks to Montee Ball's groin injury. All signs point to another big day passing the football for Manning and company.
2. SEA Rushing Attack vs. DAL - The Cowboys coughed up 31/176/2 rushing to Arian Foster and the Texans last week, and now they have to face Marshawn Lynch in Seattle. That's an outstanding matchup for Lynch, folks.
As I will be taking breaking news and updated injury reports into consideration while crafting my Week 6 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 6 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 sixth week of the 2014 season, along with sharing some thoughts about DFS in Week 7.
Good Luck everyone, I hope you win ALL your leagues this year!
Roster 1
Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
QB | Peyton Manning | $9,800 | 4.7 | 32.96 |
RB | Jeremy Hill | $5,000 | 1.2 | 8.4 |
RB | Rashad Jennings | $7,200 | 32.5 | 8.2 |
WR | Keenan Allen | $7,000 | 10.5 | 4 |
WR | Kelvin Benjamin | $7,100 | 16.6 | 3.3 |
WR | Golden Tate | $6,300 | 8.8 | 22.9 |
TE | Julius Thomas | $8,000 | 5.8 | 21.6 |
K | Robbie Gould | $4,600 | 8.7 | 7 |
D | Chicago Bears | $4,900 | 2.2 | 8 |
Roster 2
Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
QB | Drew Brees | $9,100 | 22 | 19.74 |
RB | DeMarco Murray | $9,000 | 21 | 20.2 |
RB | Le'Veon Bell | $8,600 | 23 | 14.3 |
WR | Doug Baldwin | $4,500 | 2 | 7 |
WR | Markus Wheaton | $5,300 | 9 | 2.2 |
WR | Mohamed Sanu | $6,000 | 2 | 15.5 |
TE | Jimmy Graham | $7,900 | 28 | 4.6 |
K | Shaun Suisham | $4,800 | 18 | 5 |
D | Detroit Lions | $4,800 | 43 | 11 |
Roster 3
Position | Player Name | Salary | % Owned | Points |
QB | Drew Stanton | $5,900 | 2 | 4.72 |
RB | LeSean McCoy | $8,300 | 8 | 8.6 |
RB | Khiry Robinson | $4,900 | 2 | 16.2 |
WR | Steve Smith | $7,200 | 13 | 3.9 |
WR | Vincent Jackson | $6,700 | 9 | 18.4 |
WR | Julio Jones | $8,800 | 10 | 16 |
TE | Martellus Bennett | $7,300 | 5 | 3.2 |
K | Dan Bailey | $5,500 | 2 | 9 |
D | San Diego Chargers | $5,400 | 5 | 16 |