Bengals D/ST or Raiders D/ST: Who Should You Start?

2026 Week 1 · deterministic head-to-head · Verdicts based on PPR scoring.

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). No signal favors the Bengals this week. The gap is comfortable.

Bengals D/ST

D/STCINvs TB

Projected Points

Toss-Up

Raiders D/ST

D/STLVvs MIA

Projected Points

Toss-Up· medium

Why Bengals D/ST

Toss-Up

Toss-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

Toss-Up· medium

Miami's 19.3 implied total is a prime streaming spot, but a DST18 projection at 4.8 points is barely above replacement.

  • 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, 25th among defenses, against a No. 18 matchup.

The call

  • The matchup is the sell: Miami carries just a 19.3 implied total and the Raiders are home 3-point favorites, with the model projecting only 17.2 points allowed — the game script points to leads and pass-rush chances.
  • The Dolphins offense coughs it up enough to matter, at 2.9 sacks allowed and 1.4 turnovers per game, which feeds the 2.4 sack / 0.6 INT projection.
  • The problem is the ceiling: 4.8 projected points ranks DST18, outside the 12 starting slots, and only 1% of leagues roster this unit (crowd rank 26 of 32).
  • Tiebreaker: if your rostered defense draws a top-tier offense or you need a cheap streamer, the low Miami total makes Vegas Raiders playable; if you already hold a top-12 unit, leave them on the wire.

Head-to-head stats

MetricBengals D/STRaiders D/ST
Projected points
Projection rankProj.DST21Proj.DST18
Started in1% of leagues1% of leagues
Opponent sacks allowed / game2.4(2025)2.9(2025)
Opponent turnovers / game0.9(2025)1.4(2025)
Opponent implied total23.519.3
Home / awayHomeHome
Start/Sit record—0–0+1 toss-up

Signal breakdown

  • 4.4 vs 4.8 projected PPR pointsRaiders D/ST +
  • Started rank 26 vs 25 (1% vs 1% of leagues)Raiders 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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