Start Seahawks D/ST over Ravens D/ST — Week 1 Start/Sit Verdict

Start the Seahawks — the lineup-share and opponent scoring edges are too wide to ignore.

Seahawks D/ST is started in more leagues (started rank 1 to 6) and faces the lower-scoring offense (20.5 implied points to 23.0). No signal favors the Ravens this week. The gap is comfortable.

Ravens D/ST

D/STBALvs IND

6.86.86.8 Projected Points

Sit

Seahawks D/ST

D/STSEAvs NE

7.27.27.2 Projected Points

Start

Why Ravens D/ST

Sit

Sit — a bottom-tier defensive matchup this week (No. 6): 6.8 pts projected vs IND.

IND's offense gives up 2.1 sacks and 1.4 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
Vegas has IND at 23 points as 3.5-point dogs.
Started in 80% of leagues, 6th among defenses, in line with a No. 6 matchup.

Why Seahawks D/ST

Start

Start — the No. 5 defensive matchup this week: 7.2 pts projected vs NE.

NE's offense gives up 3.0 sacks and 0.9 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
Vegas has NE at 20.5 points as 3.5-point dogs.
Over-started: 91% of leagues have them in, 1st among defenses, against a No. 5 matchup.

Head-to-head stats

Metric	Ravens D/ST	Seahawks D/ST
Projected points	6.86.86.8	7.27.27.2
Projection rank	Proj.DST6	Proj.DST5
Started in	80% of leagues	91% of leagues
Opponent sacks allowed / game	2.1(2025)	3.0(2025)
Opponent turnovers / game	1.4(2025)	0.9(2025)
Opponent implied total	23.0	20.5
Home / away	Away	Home