Start Patriots D/ST over Buccaneers D/ST — Week 1 Start/Sit Verdict

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

Patriots D/ST is started in more leagues (started rank 9 to 16) and faces the lower-scoring offense (24.0 implied points to 27.0). No signal favors the Buccaneers this week. The gap is comfortable.

Patriots D/ST

D/STNEvs SEA

4.74.74.7 Projected Points

Sit

Buccaneers D/ST

D/STTBvs CIN

4.54.54.5 Projected Points

Sit

Why Patriots D/ST

Sit

Sit — a bottom-tier defensive matchup this week (No. 19): Vegas has SEA at 24 points, and 4.7 pts projected vs SEA.

SEA's offense gives up 2.1 sacks and 1.6 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
Vegas has SEA at 24 points as 3.5-point favorites.
Over-started: 57% of leagues have them in, 9th among defenses, against a No. 19 matchup.

Why Buccaneers D/ST

Sit

Sit — a bottom-tier defensive matchup this week (No. 20): Vegas has CIN at 27 points, and 4.5 pts projected vs CIN.

CIN's offense gives up 2.1 sacks and 1.4 turnovers a game (2025), near league average.
Vegas has CIN at 27 points as 3.5-point favorites.
Over-started: 9% of leagues have them in, 16th among defenses, against a No. 20 matchup.

Head-to-head stats

Metric	Patriots D/ST	Buccaneers D/ST
Projected points	4.74.74.7	4.54.54.5
Projection rank	Proj.DST19	Proj.DST20
Started in	57% of leagues	9% of leagues
Opponent sacks allowed / game	2.1(2025)	2.1(2025)
Opponent turnovers / game	1.6(2025)	1.4(2025)
Opponent implied total	24.0	27.0
Home / away	Away	Away