Bengals D/ST or Raiders D/ST: Who Should You Start?
Preliminary board2026 Week 1 · deterministic head-to-head · Verdicts based on PPR scoring.
Verdicts sharpen as practice reports land.
Start the Raiders — the opponent giveaway and opponent scoring edges are too wide to ignore.
Raiders D/ST faces the more giveaway-prone offense (2.9 sacks and 1.4 turnovers allowed per game to 2.4 and 0.9) and faces the lower-scoring offense (19.3 implied points to 23.5). the Bengals's edge is lineup share, started rank 26 to 27. The gap is comfortable.
Bengals D/ST
D/STCINvs TB
4.44.44.4 Projected Points
Toss-Up
Raiders D/ST
D/STLVvs MIA
4.84.84.8 Projected Points
Start
Why Bengals D/ST
Toss-UpToss-up — a middling defensive matchup (No. 21 this week): at home, and 4.4 pts projected vs TB.
- TB's offense gives up 2.4 sacks and 0.9 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
- Vegas has TB at 23.5 points as 3.5-point dogs.
- Under-started: only 1% of leagues have them in, 26th among defenses, against a No. 21 matchup.
Why Raiders D/ST
StartStart — the No. 18 defensive matchup this week: 4.8 pts projected vs MIA.
- MIA's offense gives up 2.9 sacks and 1.4 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
- Vegas has MIA at 19.3 points as 3-point dogs.
- Under-started: only 1% of leagues have them in, 27th among defenses, against a No. 18 matchup.
Head-to-head stats
| Metric | Bengals D/ST | Raiders D/ST |
|---|---|---|
| Projected points | 4.44.44.4 | 4.84.84.8 |
| Projection rank | Proj.DST21 | Proj.DST18 |
| Started in | 1% of leagues | 1% of leagues |
| Opponent sacks allowed / game | 2.4(2025) | 2.9(2025) |
| Opponent turnovers / game | 0.9(2025) | 1.4(2025) |
| Opponent implied total | 23.5 | 19.3 |
| Home / away | Home | Home |
Signal breakdown
- 4.4 vs 4.8 projected PPR pointsRaiders D/ST +
- Started rank 26 vs 27 (1% vs 1% of leagues)Bengals D/ST +
- 2.4 sacks / 0.9 TO vs 2.9 sacks / 1.4 TO per game allowedRaiders D/ST +
- Opponent implied 23.5 vs 19.3 pointsRaiders D/ST +
- Home vs Homeeven
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