Week 14 D/ST Teams Plays

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You better get your popcorn ready because some of the hottest and best defensive units are playing some of the worst offenses in the NFL.  I fully believe D/ST is a very pivotal position for Week 14.

I am simply going to take them in order of DraftKings price.

Let's remember our cheat sheet for D/ST
1.  Low Vegas Point Total
2.  Home Team
3.  Facing A New/Inexperienced QB
4.  Favorite in Vegas

1.  Seattle ($3500)
Seattle -10 
@ Baltimore 42


For you younger readers out there, do you remember when Matt Schaub was good?  Sadly, I do.  Right now, it is simply harder to remember a game where he did NOT throw a pick 6.  The Seattle defense is finally playing up to their price tag.   To say this is a premium match up for this defense would be a massive understatement.  Schaub has literally thrown a pick-six in each of the last three games and in his last nine starts has totaled a mind blowing six of them.  You can't make this stuff up.  In comes a Seahawks team which is playing their best football of the season.  In Week 13, Seattle held Bridgewater to 118 yards passing, forced one INT, and sacked Bridgewater 4 times.  In addition, they held Adrian Peterson to 18 yards on just eight carries.  The Vikings were only able to get 52 offensive plays off essentially crippling the Vikings chances of any offensive production.  The Ravens are out of starters on offense.  Kamar Aiken will be taken out of the game by Richard Sherman leaving the Ravens offense with very little options.  I would not recommend starting any Ravens players and I HIGHLY recommend starting the Seattle D/ST in this contest I believe will be very one sided.  Seattle checks three items (favorite/low total/bad QB) off our cheat sheet and quite honestly, I don't care about the fourth.  

Edit To Add:

Matt Schaub remains out of practice for Ravens, further increasing likelihood that Jimmy Clausen starts Sunday vs. Seattle.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiecsun) December 11, 2015

The last time Jimmy Claussen played was back in Week 3.  He was then playing for the Chicago Bears where he was able to get a total of seven 1st Downs on 63 yards passing.  The team he played that week...these same Seattle Seahawks.  The Bears had a much better set of weapons for Claussen to work with than the Ravens have going into Week 14.  Believe it or not, this is a downgrade from Matt Schaub.

2.  Denver ($3400)
Oakland 44
@ Denver -6
Denver is playing at home where they are 6-1 and favored in this contest by nearly a TD (-6).  The total on the game is 44 of which the Raiders are only projected for 19 of those points.  The Broncos have only given up more than 20 points at home one time and that was in Week 12 where the Broncos delivered the Patriots their first loss of the season.  While the Raiders are an improved team offensively, they are not the Patriots.  Denver checks off three of four items from our cheat sheet but I believe the pressure Denver delivers on pass rush will limit what Carr can do with the football.  Denver is still the best defense in the NFL and it looks like they will be getting DeMarcus Ware back from injury.  Denver is a very safe play of all formats this week.

3.  Detroit ($2700)
Detroit 
@ St. Louis
Detroit is only checking off two items from our cheat sheet.  The total for this game is only 41.5
which is second lowest to the Cle/SF game.  Detroit is actually giving three points in this game though I think those points are on the wrong side.  Jeff Fisher, in what appears to be a desperate attempt at saving his job, fired his OC this week.  Given the offensive weapons the Rams have, I don't believe any OC would be at fault here.  Todd Gurley is the only thing on the offense opposing defenses fears.  It does look like Case Keenum will be back this week but I don't see this as a major plus.  The Lions have been on a tear defensively having not given up more than 42 yards to an opposing RB since Week 8.  The Lions are going to dare the Rams to throw the ball and the Rams simply don't have the horses to do it.  Keenum/Gurley will have a long day at the office.  The $2700 Lions D/ST is a very strong DFS play this week.  This is a great place to save $$$ allowing you to spend it elsewhere while compiling your line ups.

Edit To Add:  I mentioned earlier I thought the wrong team was getting points.  The bettors in Vegas agreed with me.  The game started Rams -2.5 and is now Lions -3.  That is a substantial swing!

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