Ravens D/ST or Vikings D/ST: Who Should You Start?

2026 Week 2 · deterministic head-to-head · Verdicts based on PPR scoring.

Start Ravens D/ST: Home script and Saints giveaways create the cleaner ceiling

Start the Ravens because the Saints’ willingness to give up sacks and turnovers gives Baltimore multiple paths to a splash-play game. Their home setting and lower opponent scoring expectation reinforce a favorable script, making the projection gap more meaningful than ordinary D/ST variance. The Vikings have a plausible pressure route, but Chicago’s ball security and stronger scoring outlook leave less room for defensive upside on the road. The risk is that New Orleans protects the ball and turns Baltimore’s matchup edge into a merely solid outing.

What flips it: New Orleans showing a last-minute improvement in pass protection and ball security.

AI editor

Ravens D/ST

D/STBALvs NO

Projected Points

Start

Vikings D/ST

D/STMINvs CHI

Projected Points

Sit

Why Ravens D/ST

Start

Start — the No. 6 defensive matchup this week: 6.8 pts projected vs NO.

  • Home field plus New Orleans’ giveaway profile creates several routes to sacks, takeaways and a defensive touchdown.
  • The expected low-scoring script protects the Ravens from needing a huge turnover total to pay off.

Why Vikings D/ST

Sit

Sit — a bottom-tier defensive matchup this week (No. 23): CHI protects the ball (0.7 turnovers a game), and Vegas has them at 24.5 points.

  • Minnesota still has a pressure-based path to relevance if Chicago falls behind and must throw.
  • The Vikings’ road setting and Chicago’s ball security make that ceiling dependent on disruption rather than steady scoring prevention.

Head-to-head stats

MetricRavens D/STVikings D/ST
Projected points
Projection rankProj.DST6Proj.DST23
Started in81% of leagues9% of leagues
Opponent sacks allowed / game3.1(2025)1.9(2025)
Opponent turnovers / game1.4(2025)0.7(2025)
Opponent implied total19.524.5
Home / awayHomeAway

Recent form

Ravens D/ST — last 1 week

Week 1vs IND

Vikings D/ST — last 1 week

Week 1vs GB

Signal breakdown

  • 6.8 vs 4.0 projected PPR pointsRavens D/ST +
  • Started rank 6 vs 17 (81% vs 9% of leagues)Ravens D/ST +
  • 3.1 sacks / 1.4 TO vs 1.9 sacks / 0.7 TO per game allowedRavens D/ST +
  • Opponent implied 19.5 vs 24.5 pointsRavens D/ST +
  • Home vs AwayRavens D/ST +

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